Ignorance looks lovely on you
by dandelion-heart
Summary: ...As if he would ever admit that out loud.
1. PRECOLLISION: Blink

~1~

* * *

**.**

"Ioryogi-san, why do we blink?"

"You mean why do you blink. This form does not provide me with eyelids."

"Oh yes, I forgot. So why do I blink?"

"Because you have a human body and you need to."

"But-"

"Kobato, stop asking stupid questions! If you can't sleep, don't bother me!"

"Ah, s-sorry."

A minute passed before Ioryogi heard the muted whine and sat up, glaring blearily at her.

"You Dobato, I said you need to blink and so you need to! Close your eyes already and stop trying to dry them out."

She gasped and turned over, amber eyes flashing in a beam of moonlight.

"So blinking keeps my eyes wet?"

He stared at her with his lip curled until she grinned apologetically and whispered 'good night.'

_**.  
**_

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE ~ _These two have captured my interest and so I'm writing this story as if their relationship was central to the manga. It will be divided into three arcs, all continuous with each other, some parts obviously of my own invention and others following canon. I hope you continue to read this collection about an absolutely hilarious and plushie dog and his extremely endearing companion! __Please review if you enjoyed!_


	2. PRECOLLISION: Wedding

~2~

* * *

_**. .**_

"Her dress is so pretty," Kobato murmured, a slim finger trailing along white folds of cloth. The bride and her maids would be here any moment, and in the temporary silence of the dressing room, Kobato's sigh echoed all around them.

"What's the matter with you?" Ioryogi sniffed the dress, eyeing it disdainfully before eating another sweet from the refreshment tray. "It's only a long, useless piece of fabric."

"How can you say that!" she cried, whirling about, mouth open in shock. "This is a special dress for a special day…she'll be so happy to wear it."

Ioryogi popped another sweet in his mouth, watching Kobato's downcast eyes carefully.

"You could try it on before her," he chuckled mischievously, but she seemed not to notice his remark and he swallowed uncomfortably, unsettled by her longing gaze.

'Kobato' he started, then thought better of it, knowing that nothing he could say would help her understand her loneliness.

_**. .**_


	3. PRECOLLISION: Poison

~3~

* * *

_**. . .**_

"Kobato, you idiot!" He snarled, snatching the bottle away before letting it go to grab both of her arms. He shook her violently for a moment, eyes wide and teeth bared in anger, but Ioryogi knew he was not angry at the girl quivering in his hold, her eyes fixated on his shining lenses. The crack of glass on tile reverberated in the room and the scattered shards twinkled in the sunlight.

"I didn't- it was," she began, voice trembling like her lips but then his arms folded inwards and she was nestled against his chest.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm not angry at you, I just- whoever pulled this prank…"

Kobato's cheeks were red and her eyes were wide and Ioryogi felt an odd twinge inside seeing her arms rise up to circle his back. They stayed in that embrace for just a moment longer before Fujimoto took a step back, avoiding her gaze, murmuring something about cleaning up. He left and the ten-second episode was over but the tightness in Ioryogi's chest had not unraveled. He glanced over to Kobato, frowning the moment he saw her face glowing with a confused happiness.

"Kobato, you're lucky Fujimoto was here," he spoke, voice gravelly with an emotion he did not recognize. She turned, blushing, and he realized she had already figured that out.

If he had a heart, it would have ripped ever so slightly. Keeping the warning she knew herself inside, he simply waited for Fujimoto to return to the office.

_**. . .**_


	4. PRECOLLISION: Fairy

~4~

* * *

_**. . . .**_

"Ioryogi-san!" Kobato trilled as she rushed into their room. "Look what I have!"

Ioryogi groaned, looking over with squinted eyes and paws over his bulging stomach. Kobato had assured him that she had learned to make good sushi for dinner last night but it took only one bite for him to keel over, unconscious. The nausea had passed but his stomach still ached and he observed the bag Kobato was carrying suspiciously.

"Even if it's medicine, I don't trust it from you," he barked. Kobato pouted for a moment before untying the bag with a flourish.

"Remember that it's Halloween tomorrow? Well I wanted to dress like something, too! So Sayaka-sensei gave me this!"

"A chef's outfit? Because yes, that would terrify everyone," Ioryogi sneered, his stomach tightening from a small spasm. Kobato frowned.

"I didn't know you'd get so sick Ioryogi-san! I don't know what went wrong but next time-"

"There will be no next time," he sighed. "Now just show me this costume."

"Let me put it on!" She scrambled up. "Look away Ioryogi-san!"

"I've already seen you naked before," he grumbled, but he shifted to his other side with a grunt.

"But it's a surprise!" There was a few minutes of stepping about, fabric rustling and then she giggled with triumph.

"Ta-da!" She clapped her hands and Ioryogi turned over, eyes widening when he caught sight of the fairy outfit. It was pink with violet trim and silver wings and ruffles around the sleeves and it hurt his eyes a bit. But Kobato was bouncing up and down, eyes on him.

"It's…nice," he muttered, ears ringing when she cheered. But he didn't really mind when she picked him up for a tight hug and when she let go, his stomach no longer hurt.

**_. . . ._**


	5. PRECOLLISION: Stitch

~5~

* * *

_**. . . . .**_

He had howled in anguish the moment he saw it – a long rip straight across his back. Moving slightly to get a better view in the mirror, Ioryogi bumped into Kobato, crouching with nervous, darting eyes beside him.

"We-we can fix it Ioryo-"

"We?!" He roared, brandishing a plushy paw at her. "Dobato, you nearly ripped me apart! You need to fix me now! And by you, I mean someone who won't finish the job!" He was trembling with suppressed fury, too enraged to remember to blast her out of the apartment.

"I know!" Kobato wailed. "I'm s-"

Both of them froze when they heard the knock on the door, Ioryogi falling over with a blank expression on his face, Kobato standing with shaking knees.

"Ah c-coming!" She called out, opening the door to see the twins peer in anxiously.

"Kobato-chan, is something wrong?"

Kobato stiffened, then howling with distress again, jabbed her finger at Ioryogi's motionless form.

"Oh your toy dog," they exclaimed in unison. "Mama can fix it," they offered, smiling as Kobato's head bobbed up and down, thanking them over and over.

"She'll be right over," the twins nodded, closing the door with cheery waves.

"Right Ioryogi-san, you'll be fixed now!" Kobato smiled nervously but she blinked in surprise when Ioryogi shook his head silently.

"I have to be with you all the time, you fool. You're my responsibility," he snarled as he stood up, arms crossed. "And this rip is temporary so come on, you'll be late for work!"

"What?" Kobato's eyes widened. "No way Ioryogi-san! You can't be with me right now. Besides, you leave me behind all the time!" Ioryogi opened his mouth to remind her that she was the one who kept dropping him on the street but she wasn't finished.

"No, it's settled. I have to go to the nursery and you need to be fixed," she said with surprising force, hands akimbo. She picked him up and Ioryogi was too startled to respond.

"When I come back, I'll tell you all about today, ok?" She smiled, all traces of worry gone. Ioryogi started to respond but there came another knock and he realized that for the first time, Kobato was making a decision for him – and he had no choice but to agree.

This was going to be a terrible day.

_**. . . . .**_


	6. PRECOLLISION: Dragon

~6~

* * *

_**. . . . . .**_

"You know Ioryogi-san, I would have put you into a dragon plushie," Kobato said, licking a spoon coated in honey. "That way, when you breathe fire, it'd make sense," she turned with a wide grin.

"How about being a real dragon. I'd be ok with that," Ioryogi answered with narrowed eyes. After enduring a day full of play from the hyperactive twins, Ioryogi was relieved enough to entertain a constant stream of random thoughts from Kobato. Their mother had skillfully fixed him up after a few minutes but the twins decided that Ioryogi was "too cute" to not dress up and play tea-time with.

"Next time I have to be left alone with those brats, I will blast you repeatedly out the window."

"Ah come on, they're so nice! You're always so mean Ioryogi-san," she sulked. He ignored her and managed to steal a lick from her spoon.

"Hey but did you miss me?" Kobato asked for the twelfth time, crossing her ankles in the air. Ioryogi yawned, turning over onto his stomach like her.

"No."

"Ioryogi-san!"

"You keep asking me and every time I'll just say no."

"But I got another candy in the bottle!"

"Why would that make me miss you?"

"The kids missed you," she giggled. "And I almost forgot I left you behind," she didn't catch his murderous glare at her, "so I got scared and we searched all over town! But then, I remembered," she finished sheepishly.

"Heh, so you missed me did you, Dobato?"

"Of course! And you missed me too right?"

"No."

"Ahhh but why?"

_**. . . . . .**_


	7. PRECOLLISION: Mask

~7~

* * *

**. . . . . . .**

Ioryogi wasn't in the mood but ignoring Ginsei never yielded the desired effect. He dodged a sidelong attack and blocked a direct hit, growling again in warning. Ginsei skidded on the tatami mat, crashing into one of the walls before he charged forward again, teeth bared and claws a flash of silver. Ioryogi leapt up, focusing on driving his foot-paws into his weak shoulders when the door started to creak open.

Ginsei stepped out of the way, launching up onto the balcony fence, departing as quickly as he had stolen in. Ioryogi whirled about, too unfocused to remember to fall over and disguise himself. He sighed audibly in relief when Kobato entered, dragging her bag behind her.

"Ioryogi-san," she yawned, blinking groggily, "where were you all day?"

He plopped down, gazing wearily back at her.

"Do you know how much I have to go through for you?" He complained with a yawn of his own. "Interrupted my nap and everything…"

"Eh?" Kobato looked up with a small smile. Ioryogi exhaled noisily.

"Nothing," He waved a paw and watched her unpack her bag carefully.

**. . . . . . .**


	8. PRECOLLISION: Web

~8~

* * *

**. . . . . . . .**

Ioryogi wanted to think that he had nothing to worry about. He wanted to believe Kobato's desperate cries of "I can still do this!" and simply watch the bottle fill up before year's end without taking several steps backward. He wanted to be assured, he wanted to be relieved, he wanted to know that Kobato would reach her destination and he would return to Heaven, the home he should never have left.

But he couldn't. No one reached out in the light or whispered in the dark encouraging or supportive truths and so nothing ever allayed his fears and he started staying up all night, staring at Kobato but never really watching her. He thought to himself about how he'd live once he was back in his human form and how subjects would once again bow before his presence and how his rule would be written as legendary. Then he blinked and found his eyes fixed on Kobato's small nose and he looked away, sheepish.

If Kobato knew anything, she didn't say anything. And if she wanted to say something, she'd keep it in because Ioryogi knew how frightened she was. She was naïve, she was stupid, and more than once, she had proven to be dangerously carefree but the inevitable haunted her. Ioryogi felt like an overbearing parent when he could see the future painted out in bold ink, spelling out Kobato's failure. Then he'd turn and see her laughing and smiling and it cut him somewhere deep inside that wasn't cotton and plush. It hurt him to see her happy and not care and when he pondered his injury at night, he was surprised to realize that he wasn't being selfish. And he surprised himself when he thought 'no, Kobato knows what will happen. And she won't let it happen.'

Why was he defending her? Why wasn't he still furious at his mortally-bound punishment, at God for assigning him such a defenseless child, at the world for not understanding that him waging war was not for victory but for answers? Why was he always losing?

Kobato stirred and opened one eye, deep rich amber glowing in the dark.

"Ioryogi-san, you should sleep."

"How do you know I need to sleep?" He grunted.

"Because I've been with you for a year," she mumbled sleepily.

"How do you know I haven't been sleeping until now?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Because I haven't been sleeping either." Her eyes widened fully and Ioryogi held back a gasp. Kobato lay there, awake, breathing hard.

"Ioryogi-san?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry." Her voice cracked and Ioryogi immediately stood up.

"Don't cry!"

She bit her lip.

"You won't let me down."

She gazed up at him. He reached over and patted her head.

"So don't lie. Sleep like you were before I woke you. You need rest, Kobato."

She smiled and her eyelids fluttered shut. Ioryogi sighed and lay down, staring up at the ceiling, mind blank from the interruption.

"Thank you Ioryogi-san."

**. . . . . . . .**


	9. PRECOLLISION: Bones

~9~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . .**

"So what are you made of?"

"Ehh?"

"Is your regular form like mine?" She asked, inspecting her hand with a critical eye.

Ioryogi held in a chuckle.

"Yes, flesh and skin and all six senses."

Kobato did not notice the deliberate mistake and he sighed, glaring at her.

"I'd like to see it!" She chirped. "Do you think maybe I'll get to? Maybe when I'm done and the bottle has all the candy and I get to go where I want to?" She blinked and glanced at him, young face gentle and earnest.

"Sure, why not?" He waved his paw lazily. A minute passed and he watched Kobato check her nails.

"Ioryogi-san!" She suddenly gasped, sitting up, a light breeze weaving through her hair and making the edges of her hat undulate slightly. "Do you remember how you look?"

"Every day," he groaned, casting a dark look at the mirror propped up by the wall.

"So are you handsome?" He turned, taken aback but her face was rosy, not flushed and she was not embarrassed at all.

"Of course! Very handsome," he grunted, avoiding her enthusiastic gaze.

"I knew it!"

"What do you think I look like?" He muttered, curious in spite of the reluctance tugging on the question.

"Hmm, that's hard. Maybe…short and you'd wear lots of blue and maybe small, black eyes-"

"You idiot, that's what I look like right now!"

"Oh yes!" She flinched instinctively. "Then maybe…really tall and lots of hair and it'd be spiky! And you'd have nice eyes and you'd be really strong and-"

"…And?"

"You'd breathe fire!" She exclaimed and Ioryogi rolled his eyes, walking away without another word.

**. . . . . . . . .**


	10. PRECOLLISION: Chains

~10~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . .**

"Ah wait! I must repay you!"

Angels were so predictable. Do them one solid and they insisted on repayment even if it cost them their lives. Ioryogi gritted his teeth, glowering at her lips, the only part of her face that wasn't hidden by her cream and gold-embroidered hood. A pale and slender hand extended, moving toward him but he stepped back.

"Why the hell would I want repayment? I didn't even mean to help you out."

"Yes, thank you for that! I'm sorry for the inconvenience! But I must repay you!"

Ioryogi groaned. He saw the angel beaming, lips bright and pink curved, and his annoyance grew.

"I don't want anything! Just don't go climbing up in trees anymore!"

"Is that what you desire? Is my promise a suitable repayment?"

Ioryogi snarled and turned but had hardly moved forward when he heard it.

Something gentle and powerful and whole was coursing through and around him and he looked up to see the petals and leaves break from the tree, dancing and twirling, guided by an unseen force. He glanced back and saw that the angel was singing, hands clasped over her chest, swaying slightly as the wind wove around her. Time wound up and down and backwards and into hi, and Ioryogi simply stared at her, his eyes closing, his heart stilled as he simply listened to the melody of her sweet voice.

Then it stopped and he gasped, turning his gaze back onto her.

"Why did you-"

"I hope you liked it! I was thinking it up while I was sitting in the tree but I promise-" she tilted her head, smile clearly visible, "I won't do that anymore!"

Ioryogi took a breath and began walking toward her.

"I meant, why did you stop?"

"I haven't finished yet," she laughed, the sound echoing.

"What's your name?" Ioryogi felt oddly light-headed, as if something had been stolen away, something he did not regret losing. It was as if his sight had been sharpened and brightened, the world too vivid for his eyes to contain for more than a moment.

"I haven't been named yet," the angel responded, hesitating before continuing. "Our Lord has yet to meet me and confirm that I shall sing for the eggs."

"You're a strange angel."

"Eh?" He caught a flash of dark gold from the shadow of the hood and he strode forward, casting off the cloth without another thought, ignoring her exclaim in shock.

His breath caught and her rich copper eyes stared up at him, wide and unmoving. Her face was smooth and small and beautiful, the most exquisite face he had ever seen. Ioryogi moved back and blinked in surprise when she stepped with him.

"You-" she shook her head, laughing quietly with eyes fixated adoringly on his face, "You're the first person I've ever seen!"

Ioryogi said nothing, his heart bobbing around in confusion as she took his hand, leaning forward.

"What's your name?"

Ioryogi didn't know what to say though he knew the answer and he knew he was expected to speak.

"I-"

"You know, that's rude of me to say! I should tell you my name first!"

"You don't have one," he responded, staring almost helplessly at his own reflection upon her glowing irises.

"Give me one!"

Ioryogi did not know why he said anything then. He did not know why he did not hold himself back.

"I don't know any names."

"Of course you do! What's a good one?"

She was so beautiful.

"I don't know. I think- no. I don't- Maybe…Kobato?"

~...~

There was a crash and the world yawned back to black. Ioryogi woke, clutching his chest with a trembling paw. Kobato was asleep beside him, breath inaudible and face tranquil. He stared at her, trying to calm the restless pangs of emotion abound inside.

He did not sleep for the remainder of the night.

**. . . . . . . . . .**


	11. PRECOLLISION: Under Water

~11~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . .**

She dipped her hand into the tub and brought it back up, water drops dripping over her slender fingers.

"Just the right temperature," she grinned and bounded over to where Ioryogi was perched on a low brick wall, enclosing the nursery's garden. "Jump right in Ioryogi-san!"

"I don't want to bathe in that pathetic little bucket!" he snarled and turned away petulantly. He was splattered in mud and grime outlined his eyes and jaws.

"Ioryogi-san how else-?" Kobato started but then straightened slightly, mouth pursed.

"He's still not clean?" Fujimoto strode forward, the shade peeling off him to cast him in a bright golden glow. He gazed down imperiously at Ioryogi, who had toppled face down into the dirt.

"It's not the right type of bathtub for him," Kobato giggled nervously and Fujimoto's eyes softened as he watched her sway slightly from side to side.

"Just throw him in and let him soak." He bent down, took hold of one of Ioryogi's paws and tossed him unceremoniously into the tub with a splash.

Kobato gasped and watched the plushie sink into the blue pool, eyes wide in shock.

"Let's go in, Kobato," Fujimoto put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, startled, and then flushed a bright pink before walking ahead.

Ioryogi bobbed on the surface, feeling something akin to shock rise within when he realized Kobato had not stayed to make sure he was ok.

**. . . . . . . . . . .**


	12. PRECOLLISION: Vortex

~12~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

They didn't seem particularly busy today. The tall man was sweeping up the steps, the woman with glasses was staring rather forlornly down on a stack of papers and Ioryogi was sitting, silent and still as usual, on a desk in the shadows.

Ginsei narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over the rooms, stopping when he caught a flash of familiar rich amber. She was curled up on the rug, her dress spread around her with the children climbing over her legs. He couldn't catch her voice from so far away but her eyes were splashes of joy dancing around the room, passing through the window and floating up to his perch where he fought the urge to turn away.

It wasn't hopeless yet, nothing had been decided for sure. But the way Ioryogi had been spitting out resentment while visiting the shop the other day, Ginsei had felt for sure that this meaningless quest would be abandoned.

Ioryogi was still seated in his usual place, waiting for just a few more minutes before closing time. Ginsei blinked. The dog plushie looked darker than usual, almost as if it was damp.

He turned his attention back onto the girl but she was guiding the children out of the playroom. She walked out of sight into the hallway and then re-appeared, bouncing to where Ioryogi was patiently waiting, as always. No one else was in the room, the man and the woman having left to bid farewell to the children at the door.

Ginsei held his breath. Ioryogi stood up, pacing animatedly before her, seemingly annoyed. Ginsei's ears perked instinctively and he leaned in, despite being unable to hear anything.

Then the girl took a step back and held out her bag for Ioryogi to step in, her face anxious. Ginsei clenched his paws.

Ioryogi cast a look heavy with disdain at the bag and opened his mouth but then the girl bowed deeply, her face almost stricken. Ioryogi seemed taken aback and Ginsei's stomach tightened. Would one apology ruin it?

The girl looked up and her face took on a glow of relief. Ginsei quickly glanced back at Ioryogi but the plushie's face was hidden as the girl took him up in her arms and gave him a squeeze.

Ginsei sighed and turned away. It was over for sure now. Despite not wanting prolonged contact with the girl, Ioryogi had revealed subtly time and time again that physical contact was not a problem. Ginsei spared one look back.

They were walking out now, the girl holding onto Ioryogi tightly, perhaps a little too much judging from the constricted look over his face. The girl on the other hand looked serene, as if everything in her world was fine and under control.

Ginsei paused for a moment longer and then took off.

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**


	13. PRECOLLISION: Upside Down

~13~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"So this is enough for you then?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Nothing has changed for us!"

"For us. For her, her wish is now realized."

"You're being a fool Ioryogi. Just like her. Why didn't you stop this from happening?"

"Ah Genko-san, don't you think you're being too harsh? After all, everything's settled now-"

"Shut up."

"Just let him go already."

The bear turned in surprise, beady eyes widening. Ginsei jerked his head towards the door, his eyes fixed on Ioryogi's.

"Well? He's probably going to arrive any minute now. She'll no doubt remember it all and then you can go back to her."

"Still full of dislike, eh Ginsei?" Zuisho squawked, shaking out his wings.

Genko sighed and glanced back at Ioryogi who had leapt off the counter and was striding towards the door. "Ioryogi!"

"What?" He turned back, his expression inscrutable.

"Except for your form…" he paused and then grinned, "now your wish has been granted too, right?"

Ioryogi scowled but couldn't hide his face quickly enough and as he slammed the door shut behind him, Genko let out a low, growling laugh. Zuisho cocked his head, brows furrowed.

"Is that why he is alright with staying a plushie?"

Ginsei blinked and stared down at a plate of baumkuchen simmering to a cool.

"As long as she's happy and he can be with her, he'll be fine."

Genko nodded, smiling.

"What a fool."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	14. PRECOLLISION: Flag

~14~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Her way?"

"You should try!" She nodded, face wrinkled with anguish.

"I like my way!" He yelled and she flinched. "Dobato, you make it hard to stay patient!"

"Sorry," she whispered and her shoulders tensed ever so slightly. Ioryogi paused.

"What 'way' is this anyways?"

"Well um, being calm…and telling me softly-"

"You want me to be nice." He finished dryly.

"I'm just not very good at sewing," she sighed, gazing sadly at the mess of a flag in her lap. "I guess-"

"You shouldn't have promised to make that stupid thing in the first place. Know what you're getting yourself into next time!"

"Right."

A few silent moments passed.

"What's the matter?" He had turned to face her and now that he was looking at her, really looking, she seemed much smaller, much weaker than she usually did.

"It's just that…when I make mistakes, Fujimoto-san yells. But Sayaka-sensei never does. And either way, I end up making the same mistakes."

"Yeah, it seems your mistakes are simply immune to treatment," he snorted.

"I guess." She looked very tired all of a sudden. Ioryogi grimaced.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Making that face. You're supposed to keep trying. Come on now." He didn't know why the urge to keep talking was making him sound like a fool and he glanced away, annoyed.

"I will. I just feel…tired." Her voice was suddenly very gentle, very quiet.

He hopped up onto her knee, resisted the urge to spit out an apology, and then beckoned her closer. She leaned towards him and he shoved her cheeks up with his paws so that her lips curved into a wide smile.

"Keep that face or I will blast you out of this room!" He growled, trying his best not to add in a small 'sorry.'

She stared down, wide-eyed, and he felt her face stretch into a smile all on its own. He nodded grimly in approval and let go.

"Ioryogi-san!" It wasn't as chirpy as he hoped but it was happier, and the mood felt normal again. And so when he turned back in acknowledgement, he didn't expect her to lean over and quickly kiss the top of his head.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	15. PRECOLLISION: No Color

~15~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

"Fujimoto-san, do you remember your dreams?"

She was sitting beside him on a bench just outside the park gates. She was sitting on the other end and she was staring at her folded hands with eyes that did not blink.

"Sometimes."

"Do they make you happy?"

"I guess…sometimes."

"Do you ever dream the same dream over and over again?"

"What is it with dreams today?" He glanced at her, the ends of his brows knitted together in a deep crease.

"It's just…" She looked up and her eyes were bright again, as if she had just woke up. "I keep dreaming of a man that I feel like I've known for a long time…but I don't see his face. And it's black and white! It's very strange."

"I see," he commented. They sat in silence for a few minutes and then he stood. She turned in surprise and saw the faint outline of the bus moving through the blurry heat haze.

"Oh there it is! I'm sorry if I bothered you Fujimoto-san, because I usually talk about these things with Ioryogi-san. But he had to go for a bit and somehow, I just thought, it felt okay to talk to you, too."

He looked down and wondered if the briefest flicker of monotone, the smallest traces of confusion had just been imagined. She blinked up at him, looking just the same. The bus slowed to a stop beside them.

"I'll see you tomorrow then!" She chirped and suddenly the whole conversation was nothing more than a silly question ended with the cheery wave. He found his seat and knew better than to look back at the girl who waited at the stand until she could no longer see the exhaust on the wind.

It was when he was stepping off the bus that he realized she had never in all of her long, rambling one-sided conversations, talked about a man she cared about.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	16. PRECOLLISION: Lace

~16~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

Ioryogi knew where they came from, but he just didn't understand why they came as they did. They were long intricate messes of curlings and trimmings and high-waist stitching and broad hemline work. He stared at them in complete silence at times and when she caught him fixated on a particular pattern of sequins and mirrors, she'd pause before asking because he'd always respond with an annoyed growl.

"What's the use of all that?" He gestured vaguely one day towards a particularly bright floral print on periwinkle blue cotton heap on the side of Kobato's futon. "It just seems like a waste of fabric to me."

"But it's so pretty Ioryogi-san!" Kobato scooped the dress up and twirled about with it. "And this is a special one for the summer!"

"It's childish and all of them are the same," he remarked scoffingly and Kobato looked momentarily affronted.

"You never said anything before! I thought you liked my Halloween outfit!"

Ioryogi blanched.

"That one…wasn't any different!" He finished with a scowl. Kobato stared at him for a few excruciatingly awkward moments before shrugging.

"Sayaka-sensei likes them and the kids do, too. And besides," she giggled, "I love them!"

Ioryogi watched her, making no attempt to hide his bemusement.

"Well I guess that's what really matters anyways," he sighed and settled back into the mattress.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	17. PRECOLLISION: Graffiti

~17~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

He was watching her curiously and she did her best - fidgeting under his intense stare, blinking furiously at the blanket she was unfolding over her futon - to fight off the urge to just confess.

"Kobato."

"Yes Ioryogi-san!" She shot up, standing with her shoulders thrown back, face anxious.

"What are you hiding?" He continued to watch her with an almost benign expression.

"N-n-nothing!" She squeaked, smoothing out the front of her dress and doing her best not to fall into a nervous heap on the floor.

"Today was the first day you have not told me…" he started slowly, Kobato swallowing apprehensively, "what you did at the nursery while I was gone."

"Ah, well," she laughed weakly, "it's not that big of a deal-"

"If you really screwed up this time, I will blast you out of this room back to where you belong!"

Kobato ducked her head and cowered before him, but raised her wide eyes when he finished.

"Ioryogi-san, there are people like me somewhere?"

"What?" He growled impatiently then paused. "What do you mean?"

"You see, today, the children were writing letters to home! And they were drawing things they did in class and their favorite memories and they signed the letters with stickers and hearts…" her voice trailed away, and she looked very much like a child herself to the uneasy plushie.

"And you tried to write one?"

"Well," she began pulling loose threads from the hem of her petticoat, "I didn't want to tell them I don't remember where I came from, because Ioryogi-san said that's not allowed." She looked up with a hesitant smile. "So I made something better!"

"That's all?"

"Y-yes." Her smile faded.

Ioryogi narrowed his eyes.

"Show me this letter."

"What if you don't like it? It's supposed to be for fam-"

"I'm your guardian, now hand it over!"

"Don't be too harsh-" She pulled an envelope from an oversized pocket and Ioryogi snatched it away immediately. He tore through it cleanly and pulled a crumpled paper out, ignoring Kobato's squirming.

"What is this?" He stared down at a paper covered with random words scribbled in marker, small stickers of birds forming a rough outline around the edge and a small drawing of an oddly-proportioned girl and a blue blob beside her in front of a brown rectangle.

"Is it ok?" Kobato ventured after a few moments.

"It's terrible but nothing that gave you away!" He snarled back. "I can't even tell what this is!"

"It's a home, because I don't remember where I used to live!" He glanced up.

"What home?"

"It's our home, Ioryogi-san!" Ioryogi tucked the paper back in and returned it, face blank.

"Is it good?"

"…Passable work."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	18. BRIDGE: Silhouette

~18~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"I'm cursed," he said sharply and the girl cocked her head, wide eyes unblinking despite staring through beams of bright, harsh, pure light. He realized she was blind.

"Am I cursed, too?"

"No," he took a breath and continued, "You're on a quest. I will help you, that is my punishment, and once you succeed, I will leave."

"What's my quest?" Her voice bubbled and fluttered up like a dove, paper rustling and memories scattering.

"You know what it is."

She was silent for a few moments and then closed her eyes and curled in, hands coming together over her mouth. She floated there, hair swimming over her shoulders like tendrils and the glow on her skin slipping in and out of the sphere she was suspended within.

"There's a place I wish to go to."

"And to go there, you must heal human hearts. You must fill a bottle with the reminders of what you have done. When you finish, you will be granted your wish."

"What if I forget?"

He stared down at her, gazing at the young face, eyes opening again, fingers unfurling and then the sphere cracked and broke, releasing waves of light and sound. His heart drank in the song spinning cords around her and they leapt up to break through his chest and penetrate his heart.

There was no more darkness and all the light became nothingness as he felt the sleep take over. She reached out, blind eyes gaining sight, and he took her hand and felt his heart lock down on the song.

He would forget the song to remember her wish.

"I will be there to guide you…Kobato."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	19. BRIDGE: Wood

~19~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

She was foolish and her heart was a wild bird struggling in a cage. Like a fool, she ran after him and though her wish trembled and readied to break, she still followed what she felt sounded like love. And when he turned around and opened up his arms, all the sky merged into earth and nothing meant anything if it was not with him.

The demon knew such desperation.

He did not care for the youth she stumbled towards, he didn't need to worry. He didn't need to fear him he told himself and yet, she was so beautiful and her eyes took the boy in, all the way, and a wish with his name began to fade.

She was not a useless puppet and he realized he had never once held what he imagined to be her strings.

"Kobato."

"I failed."

"Kobato."

"I'm so sorry."

But everything was happy and terrible at once, and she was free and yet as imprisoned as she was before. Her face tore and she started to cry and he knew the ache in her heart was unrelenting and the sting under her tongue was swelling and all she knew was as empty as the bottle in her palms.

She was so beautiful.

"Kobato-"

"Forgive me, Iorogi-san."

Something came undone and the world shivered.

The dove broke free and sprang away, soaring past and he watched her eyes widen.

"Kobato," Fujimoto spoke once more and he took her into his arms and Ioryogi closed his eyes as the stitches in time came undone and a wish sparked and the song Kobato was struggling to sing eased wings out and through her back.

Now began the end.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	20. COLLISION: Redesign

~20~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

It was unbearably hot the morning he set out from his hometown though the sun was still sleeping and there were clouds smeared over the violet sky. He left his home without tucking the note clenched in his fist into the door hinge, throwing it into the pond past the welcome gate at the last moment. Then he strode on as quickly as he could to escape the quiet gathering of small houses, afraid someone might wake and catch him dashing past covered windows.

He walked for a very long time, never resting or slowing, and so he saw how the stars melted from bright dots into the spread of pale pink and blue hues. He thought he saw a great cloud, fairer and rounder than all of its sisters, move quickly into the north but a small wood soon covered up all he could see of the sky. He walked up the hills encircling his town, the trees waving goodbye as staggered up several rocky slopes until the sun was directly above him and the blood in his ears was pounding a little too loudly and his breath was shaking out of him a little too harshly. He did not slow until the path evened and he looked back to see only wide and empty trail behind him, the town in the valley from now on lost to memory.

The land began to sprout a little ways off from undergrowth and bush once again into a full forest and he finally stopped at a clearing when a cool breeze whistled past him and he could no longer ignore the cramps in his chest. He tossed aside his knapsack at the base of a large, ancient oak and sighed as he slumped against the trunk, boots sliding in the dust until he was sitting with legs stretched out and head tilted back, sweat swimming down his neck.

He stared ahead, too busy calming his lungs and heart to notice at first that the main road had a smaller path leading off to a side lined with what looked like a clutter of houses in the distance, long white houses with glimmering trees swaying above. There was a haze floating about and he wondered if it was smoke but there was strange, faint smell passing along with it.

He tried his best to stay awake but there a strange hum in his ears and his eyes started to close. Just as he started to snore, a distant buzz like paper stirring around an open-window room, rose from above and he jolted upright when a cascade of feathers settled around him. There was pure white and shining gray and a few dashes of black painted on thousands of downy petals twirling to the ground and he glanced upwards, his breathing catching.

A flock was descending onto the oak branches, voices mingling with the beating of wings, a flurry of snow flapping in summer sunshine. They started at the topmost branches and fell into place quickly, their number seeming to only increase as birds began to find their perches.

It was only when the parade swelled and birds began alighting on his knees and the toes of his boots did he move, shaking himself off and watching the small creatures gather around. He was reluctant to chase them away but their feet jumped from dirt to his leg and they began to climb over him, chirping as much to him as to themselves. He started to wave his arms and growl but they only cooed, throaty laughter echoing, and ignored his increasingly annoyed and fruitless movements.

He finally stood and made his way carefully through, jaw clenched and tightening furiously as he broke from the cool shade and moved into blinding sunlight. He stopped, only a few feet away, and turned back, realizing the lack of weight on his shoulders. He couldn't see his knapsack through the blurred foam sea and contemplated leaving it behind rather than wading through and searching. He thought for a moment more and then ran forwards, charging with a furious yell and the birds flapped into the air, crowing excitedly. He grinned triumphantly, once again in the shade, until he felt the wind move and the birds broke from flight and began to return to their roosts. He snarled and threw his arms from side to side, shoulders sagging when they simply peered at him with their small heads cocked slightly.

He started to walk forward ever so slowly, searching for his knapsack round the base of the tree, teeth grinding in a steady beat underscoring the flutter of wings, and then he caught a flash of silver and looked up to see a girl laying on a branch, sleeping almost peacefully with the birds nestled not over but by her.

He didn't move for a number of moments. His eyes were fixed on the girl, her face turned away, hands clasped over her stomach, skirt billowing over her thin, dangling legs, sandals about to fall from her toes.

He found his breath again.

"Hey!"

His shout brought the birds on the ground up and with all of them rising and all of them moving, it was as if a white curtain pulled over the girl who turned to him and opened her eyes halfway, large amber ones like golden syrup burnt by sunshine, and they blinked slowly.

"Yes?" She whispered sleepily.

They both stared at one another and then suddenly she sat up, long hair as vibrant as her eyes cascading over her thin shoulders and slender arms, her mouth turning up. The sandals on her feet tumbled onto the ground and raised a pouf of dust.

"Oh, hello! Hello Mr. Stranger sir! I need your help!"

"…What?" He took a step back.

"I'm so sorry to inconvenience you Mr. Stranger sir! But I'm afraid," her shoulders tensed, "I'm afraid I'm stuck on this tree!"

"…I see." All the drowsiness in her voice had suddenly disappeared and the ache in his legs seemed to take offense and pulsed.

"Will you help me? I was only climbing up because I heard the twilight looked different from up here and it really did, all the light was pouring around…"

He was no longer taking notice, her voice fading away into the light breeze swirling around the tree, for he had noticed the birds had peacefully drifted back down and were chasing each other around the girl, perching on her elbows and moving from branch to branch and pausing on her knee.

He watched them and looked at her. It was as if a fierce white sea had congealed and shattered into droplets scattering themselves over the girl who was still talking, voice high and bright and it sounded very much like the whisper of the wind circling the oak.

Like a song he had heard once before.

"What are they?"

"-and I promise to- wait, what are what, sorry?"

"Those things." He gestured bemusedly towards the birds singing softly as they pecked about, glancing at him with dancing black lights for eyes.

"The birds?" She smiled and caught one in her hand but it did not bother trying to move away. "Why, they're doves! Have you never-" Her eyes widened.

"I knew you were a real stranger, Mr. Stranger sir! You must not be from this place! Where are you from?"

Her voice really was like one he had heard before, maybe in a dream, but he froze when he heard the question and started to move back.

"I have to leave."

"Oh but wait! Won't you please help me?"

"Got yourself up there by yourself?"

"Y-yes." She blushed and her hands drew back together over her lap.

"Then get yourself down. And don't do something stupid like this again. You'll only cause trouble for others."

The curve of her lips leveled and her eyes were strangely bright as he turned and shuffled his way through the tide of doves that ebbed and cleared a path for him. He had stepped out into the light once again and was quite a distance away, wondering if he was too harsh and then thinking that maybe he should have been more severe, when there came a shock of high cries and a number of the birds took to the air once again. He pivoted and saw that the girl was no longer on the tree and the birds were anxiously flitting above the ground, the hard crusty dirt that was under the branch.

"Hey!" He strode forward, ignoring the doves skipping away from his quick steps. "You-"

The girl was on her back, moaning softly and the birds were pushing their beaks into her cheeks and arms gently, voices a steady whine of concern. She opened one eye and he blinked when she started to smile.

"I…I made it down!"

"You fool!" He snapped but she giggled weakly, helplessly in response and he dropped to his knees. He pulled her up a little roughly, a little hurriedly, but he waited until her eyes focused and she nodded, smile still in place, to tell him that she could stand. They started forward and he reminded himself not to restrain his anger again.

"Thank you Mr.-"

"Shut up. Didn't I tell you not to make trouble for others?"

Her hand fell away from the crook of his elbow and he halted, surprised.

"How else was I supposed to get down? Bother someone by asking them to help me or bother someone by getting down myself? You didn't have to help anyways!"

Her voice was surprisingly childlike and something about it, mixed with the frustration churning in his throbbing stomach, kept him on the brink of sunlight and tree shadow. For some reason, he didn't want to move forward or turn around.

"So rude," she muttered, but there was no anger, no irritation, more of a curiosity and a hurt in her tone.

"Fine. Your welcome, happy? Now tell me what road to take that leads me to the mountains and we'll call this thing even."

He didn't want to bother looking at her, but her moment of silence was prolonged and forced him to glance back. She was really quite young, he decided as she rocked back and forth on her bare heels, biting her lip.

"I'm afraid I can't leave, I have to make sure these doves are safe!"

He was startled, narrowed eyes widening, when the birds rose up to dance around the girl, almost on cue, small bleached planets orbiting her flaming hair. He forgot what he had to say and watched her smiling face for some time before she hesitantly reached out and nudged him.

"Do you need a place to stay? You're more than welcome to live with me for a while, it will be fun and I can show you around town! And-"

He looked away. "Why are the birds important?"

"Oh well-" She gasped and held her breath. He did not try to mask his confusion. "Ah I can't tell you! That's a secret!" She burst out, cheeks flushed.

He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair.

"Give me directions then."

"I will."

He stared back at her, brows raised.

"Well?"

"You have to ask first!" She chided, voice still sweet.

"Can I have the directions out of this place?"

"You can if you say…?" Her voice trailed off, the last syllables faintly disappointed.

He snorted in disbelief but her smile was still steady and after waiting for a minute, him silently fuming and cursing her and the heat and the birds with many imaginative phrases, her pace and direction were sure as she traveled to the base of the oak and hefted his knapsack. He blinked, taken aback, not having noticed it and he reached her before she walked any further to take it, grunting in response to her cheerful nod.

"Mr. Stranger sir?"

"Directions please."

She beamed and he closed his eyes, aches somehow relaxing, the strange churlish anger within dimming.

"And…can we do a trade again?"

"What?"

"Your name for supplies! Your bag doesn't feel too heavy."

He gazed down at the girl and kept his lips closed, reminding himself that her hopeful eyes were not safe to trust in, no matter how much they seemed to coax him to simply let a simple word out.

"Kuryu."

"Kuryu-san," she bowed and he noticed the birds were silent now, listening to her from below, captivated. "Please follow me."

"And you are?"

"Yes?" She raised her head.

"Your name."

"You can call me whatever you like!"

"I will call you your given name."

"Ehh well," she shrugged, "I don't like my name very much."

He gave a short bark of a laugh on impulse, not at her request but at her reluctant smile.

"Well then I'll be sure to say you don't treat your guests properly and send them off without supplies." He grinned knowingly as he pretended to take a step forward.

"Ah but!" She looked about anxiously and when he set his boot down, clapped her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. "Kobato!"

At first there was no change but then all of the birds flew up, voices muted once more by the frenzied flapping of their wings. He observed them without much concern until he realized they had all lifted off and were starting to move away, recognizing them as the giant cloud he had seen on his way here. After watching them drift away for a minute, he turned and noticed the girl's forlorn expression.

"They just came back," she pouted. "I hope they don't get too tired because then they get hungry-"

"You didn't have to say your name if it chased them all away!" He shook his head in exasperation.

"You forced me to!"

"I didn't do anything like that."

"Yes you did!" She looked at him meaningfully and he was forced to avert his eyes from hers. "But…I forgive you!"

He flinched.

"There's nothing to for-"

"Alright Kuryu-san, it's time we left!"

"But wait those birds-"

"Kobato will lead you! This way!" She took hold of his hand and ignoring his grumble of protest, pulled him into the sunlight and back onto the road.

"Stop being so familiar!" He snatched his hand out of her firm grip.

"Ah yes I'm sorry! You are still a stranger, I forgot."

"You are very careless," he growled and she blanched with a small gasp.

"I'm not! I'm very responsible, I take care of lots of duties!"

"Like chasing away your charges?" He chuckled spitefully when she smiled at him hopefully, confused. "Your birds."

"The doves take care of themselves. I just keep them safe."

"…What?"

"You see, I- wait! You're trying to learn my secret!" She glared at him but only succeeded in looking more like a child, large eyes shimmering in the light, small lips pursed in annoyance.

"I don't give a damn about your secret." He shook his head, noting that for one so small and slim, her legs moved astonishingly fast.

They slipped through vines and overhanging boughs and he lost track of their direction as she hopped from side to side, pausing to make sure he was still there and then leading him down a winding path until there was a sudden open space and just ahead, a small town. The trees pulled away from the stage as dirt became brick and the marketplace vendors sat a distance away, fanning themselves to sleep, lone shoppers a blur as Kobato skipped happily along.

"Did you like them though?"

"Like what?"

She stopped just before the change of brick to tile and he noticed now that the buildings were quite large, like white temples with many quarters that had looked like houses from the seat under the oak. He glanced back and noticed the vendors were awake now, muttering to themselves, watching the girl beside him and then looking at him with contempt.

"Did you like the doves?"

"Why are they staring like that?" He growled, ignoring her and feeling under his tunic for the long, sheathed dagger in his belt.

"Kuryu-san," she responded, laying a cool hand on his forearm. "Did you like the doves?"

He stared down at her and noted how childlike her face was, how young and gentle her cautious smile was. But her eyes were nothing like the sweet, carefree voice and they looked into his with a color and a feeling he didn't want to face. For a moment, something flitted over, something birdlike and mysterious and very old and the palace-like temple grounds circling the plaza seemed to loom over him. Then he blinked and saw those eyes again and pushed away the urge to move, to leave, grimacing instead.

"They were fine."

She sighed audibly and grinned up at him. Her eyes had not changed nor had her face and the same strangeness a minute ago no longer seemed to unnerve him.

"See, I knew I could trust a stranger like you!"

He was too bewildered by the tenderness in his voice to notice and protest in time that she had taken his hand and was beginning to lead him off again.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	21. COLLISION: Buttons

~21~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

He really hadn't meant to stay and he said so as she led him to a small hallway, a detour from the rest of the commons where she pointed out each grand room for the order of the high priests. The place was built with blindingly white marble and it had huge arches under which a number of white-robed ministers steadily shuffled, sparing the two of them a few glances.

She threw open the door of one of the rooms in the passage, hinges creaking to reveal a musty place, corners stuffed with cobwebs and faint stretches of mold lining the walls. She sat him on the bed and went to make a drink but coming back, and she always narrated this part with extra enthusiasm and a cheery grin, she found him curled up and deep asleep, so she closed the door and waited until the next morning when he got up and started wondering aloud where he was.

She prepared him lunch, or at least tried to, and instead concocted something that looked like a steaming stew of burnt porridge and fried leeks that he gingerly touched with his spoon and then pushed away. He was more than ready to be on his way but she apologized and explained that this was the beginning of a week of holy days and so she would be busy running errands. He shrugged and said he would ask someone else for directions but she hesitantly mentioned that the townspeople may not talk to him and it would be better for him to avoid the guards altogether.

He ignored her of course and strode into the plaza later, boldly asking anyone who passed by if they knew directions to a path out of town to the east where he would avoid any rivers. None of them bothered to stop and hurried by, some snorting with derision, others passing him with scathing looks. He turned to the gates and saw the guards but remembered what he was told and returned to the room with a bad temper.

"I told you not to say anything to them!" Kobato shook her head as she spooned what looked like soup but was much thicker and nearly black into a wooden bowl.

"You never said not to say anything, you just said they wouldn't talk," he shot back gruffly, eyeing the bowl drawing close.

"I promise I'll give you directions the moment this week ends ok? I know you're probably in a hurry so Kobato will do her best! I'm still so sorry for inconvenience," she murmured, surprising him by how sorry she did look.

"I know," he answered, taking the bowl, looking inside and handing it back as she laughed awkwardly.

And so he found himself exploring abandoned prayer rooms and long corridors all through the day, jumping from one ledge to another, squeezing through narrow walls, feeling like an adventurer in a maze he had no fear of being lost in. After the first day he did this, she drew him a very bad map but with the general directions correct so he could go wherever he pleased without passing by townspeople, and she pointed out the best hiding places and vantage points to see the landscape from. He hadn't expected her to be helpful or even encouraging but when she smiled and actually stopped to listen to him, he found himself boasting to her about the new places he found, forgetting he hated his reckless urge to share and impress.

When Kobato would hurry back home late at night, slamming his door open breathlessly, ignoring his roar that she should knock, she'd apologize for the delay, hand him some food from the market and ask him what he did. He was moody, she noted correctly, staying quiet sometimes but then talking freely others, but it was rather easy to talk around her, caught off guard by her constant bustling around. He found himself annoyed with her happiness, annoyed with her silly mistakes, annoyed with her childishness and yet all of it amused him and managed to keep him talking almost as much as she did. She left every day a few hours before noon and returned home close to midnight but she insisted they stay up on the roof for star-gazing, something that he never thought of before and now rather enjoyed.

The week passed by rather quickly and when he heard Kobato open her door the seventh night, he grabbed his knapsack and walked out. She heard him come in and turned in surprise, arms full of scrolls, the bag slung over her shoulder stuffed with pouches and trinkets.

"Kuryu-san! I came back early, I didn't think you'd be here! Oh," Kobato blinked. "You're leaving?"

"I only had to wait for your party week to end."

"It was a lot of work," Kobato laughed, setting down her things. "Actually, there still is a lot of work for me to do." She gazed at the assortment of items with distress. "So many things to do…"

"What is this festival again?"

"You always forget! We welcome in the seasons' first week. But we also say goodbye to their last week, and so we were saying goodbye to spring."

He noticed that her voice was hoarse.

"And what do you do?"

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again and then exhaled noisily.

"I sing!" She smiled triumphantly.

"Was that supposed to be a secret as well?"

"Well yes," she giggled and he sighed.

"You really are irresponsible."

"I don't need to worry about telling you this! You can keep secrets right?" She smiled and he grunted in assent. "So…I guess you're ready?"

"Let's go." He paused when he noticed the brief look of sadness in her eyes.

"Alright…well it was nice to meet you Kuryu-san! I'll show you the way out but you can't say anything outside! And don't say my name!"

"I never do, you already told me not to-" he started but she silenced him with her wild gesturing.

"Yes and so please don't! I can't speak either so are you ready?"

"Yes-"

"Yes let's go!" But she turned away quickly but he observed that she didn't grab his hand as she was so accustomed to doing as they headed out into the hallway.

He followed her out of the commons, out of the palace-temple grounds, past the houses until they reached a new rolling path hidden in the bushes. They walked on in silence, the night oddly quiet itself, no crickets or birds or wind seemingly alive. It was growing darker and Kobato was fading away and he tried his best to hear for her as they stumbled up slopes and pushed back thin, clinging branches. He was completely unable to see until they broke through the undergrowth and the sky was back over them.

"Kuryu-san-"

"You're speaking!" He warned before he could stop himself but she laughed, hair lustrous in the moonlight.

"We can talk now, no one can hear us! Just keep going straight and you'll avoid the river and go into the next country. You know, those are very strange directions-"

"Someone gave them to me."

"Well that's the way!" He looked down, seeing that he had to walk down a small hill and then it was a long span of plains and countryside.

"Right then."

"Be safe." Her fair face was pure white in the light, but he caught the look flashing in her eyes and he stopped.

"You- Kobato."

"Yes?

"…Why couldn't anyone else tell me where to go?"

"Eh?"

It was suddenly very important that she answer the question though he didn't know why. He had never cared to ask before why she lived in such dingy quarters though she had no lack of pretty dresses and straw hats. He had wondered why people glared at her when they passed by the first day, then forgotten it, but now he remembered how the priests glowered at her and the question grew even more important. It wasn't as if he had been completely uninterested but he had reasoned away that maybe she was a victim of circumstance, maybe her family had wronged, maybe she had made a mistake. But those were lies, excuses. There was no tragedy from what he could tell, there was no family, and there was no way she could ever have committed a crime of any degree.

"What's the deal with you?"

"Nothing!" She pouted but he was now insatiably curious and he turned around fully.

"Tell me."

She smiled but then looked down, hiding her eyes.

"It's because you were under my care."

"So?" They were both silent for a long while, almost as if they were holding their breaths.

"You aren't cursed!" She cried out at last, eyes pleading as she glanced up. "If they said anything to you, don't believe them! I really don't have any black magic of any sort in me, all I do is understand the doves, but anyone could do that if they just sat and listened to them. And I've never done anything to hurt anyone and I never would, so don't believe it! You're still normal and you don't need to worry!"

The words tumbled out of her in a rush, not stricken, not anxious, but eager to explain, hopeful, though her eyes were doubtful as she scanned his face.

"Got it," he nodded and took a step back.

"Kuryu-san-"

"Iorogi."

"What?"

"That's my real name," he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's only fair that you should know."

"Ah," she whispered. Both of them were silent again.

"Well…goodbye Ioryogi-san," she said, looking quite happy but he stiffened.

"Not Ioryogi, Iorogi."

"Ioryogi-san."

"Iorogi!"

"Ioryogi-san?"

"Ioryogi! Wait-"

Her laughter burst forth like a hand swinging about chimes.

"I'll practice it! When you come back I'll say it right!"

She waved and he watched her move back into the black of the woods. He waited until he could no longer hear her rustling through the bramble and then turned his attention to the path ahead.

~...~

"Why the hell are we going through this place?"

"Don't talk back."

"That's not a reason."

"Shut up."

Both men were quite loud as they trooped past the curious and frightened passersby who took turns blanching at their crude speech and glancing at one another. Women clutched onto their purses firmly and old men scowled from under make-shift tents as the men stepped through imperiously, long black cloaks rustling and strong-jawed faces never turning to the side.

"How long has it been since you've been here?"

The taller of two was silent for a while.

"4 years."

"And you still remember where to go?"

"I don't have a bad memory," he growled and did not bother to look upon the congregation of priests by the gate of the commons, whispering amongst themselves and sending the two strangers fierce glares.

"Too bad they're all scared," the other one sneered, holding back a laugh as the men moved away. "This place doesn't have a single challenger here. Maybe we can look for one."

But his companion strode forward, solemn, ignoring everything else around him as he peered around columns and glittering halls, eyes quick and darting.

"Iorogi, what are we look-"

But the man was walking quickly now to the very left and as they passed blank walls and several small rooms, there came a small passage with two doors on its side, cramped in the darkness, nearly hidden from view.

"The servants' quarters?"

But no reply came, only a swift knock on the first door which opened almost promptly to reveal a very skinny, very lanky girl who blinked wearily up at them.

"Yes?" She looked at both of them, not a trace of fear in her eyes at seeing such tall and imposing black-robed figures at her door.

"You said you liked to wake up early." Iorogi sounded strangely reserved and patient.

"I don't have that many duties today-" she started, about to smile and then she froze. "Wait…"

"May we come in?"

The girl was now staring very hard, eyes fixed on the stranger before her and then she clapped her hands together and squealed with delight.

"Ioryogi-san!"

The man at his side flinched, brows raising when the girl took his hand and pulled him into the room, laughing lightly.

"Come in, come in! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you at first, you've grown so tall!" She marveled, gazing up at Iorogi with a child-like fascination that made the companion's eyes narrow.

"And, I'm so sorry! I didn't ask for your name?" She turned to the other man eagerly.

"Ginsei," he drawled and threw back his hood, a ruffled shock of gold hair falling into place over his long, squinted eyes.

"Ginsei-san and Ioryogi-san! It's my pleasure to welcome you," the girl bowed deeply and then scuttled off to a closet, pulling out a number of pots and plates with haste, explaining her tired state.

"Iorogi," Ginsei said quietly but the man was paying him no attention, having pulled off his own cloak and set it on the chair he was now leaning against, watching the girl bustle around with a strange and unfamiliar look in his eye.

"If you haven't improved at cooking, then leave it alone."

Ginsei started. The voice he had just heard was indeed no longer Iorogi's, for it was laced with none of his usual acidic tone, layered with no pointed sarcasm or blatant disregard. It wasn't even just calm, but almost intrigued, as if he was actually interested in something about the girl doing her best not to trip over the worn rug on the floor.

"I've improved Ioryogi-san! I'll make something quick, I didn't expect visitors so-"

"It's Iorogi."

"Sorry?" She turned to Ginsei and he bit his tongue seeing her eyes flash with such welcome cheer.

"His name is Iorogi, not the crap you've been saying."

"Ah yes! I remember now, I promised I'd have it right when you came back, didn't I?" She giggled nervously, looking back at Iorogi.

"I don't mind," he answered, sitting down now, looking and sounding at first like he was bored, but Ginsei realized he was actually at ease.

The girl beamed at him and Ginsei gazed around at the room, trying to look anywhere but the girl now making animated conversation with the man at her table. The room was old, paint worn off the walls, lichen curled up in the ceiling corners, the wood smelling faintly and the tiles of the floor chipped. He smirked when he saw her attempts at white-washing the walls, the paint too thin to cover much, the crayon scribbling over the walls of the kitchen that was tucked on the side, and the fresh flowers scattered all around. Bees and flies were humming about from an open window with the wooden shutters broken, but they flew lazily for only a few rounds before going back outside into the blinding sunshine.

"Sit down Ginsei," Iorogi gestured to a chair and the girl bounded into view as the legs scraped back.

"But I'm so rude! I didn't ask how you've been! You've been gone for a long time," the girl spoke warmly, setting down bowls and spoons. There were stains around the rim and scratch-marks as if someone had tried their best to rub them out. Ginsei crossed his arms, refusing to take one but Iorogi didn't seem to mind. The calm expression only became wary when Kobato brought a platter with what looked like porridge but was much oilier and lumpier, but she didn't offer any, glancing up worriedly at Iorogi instead.

"If it isn't good," she began, although it was clear she was hoping very much it was satisfactory, "then I'll bring something from the market!"

Ginsei opened his mouth but Iorogi shook his head.

"I'm not hungry and I need to talk to you about something."

Ginsei tried to catch his eye but Iorogi was paying him no heed. He was no longer sure this was a detour or even a business trip but something was very off in Iorogi's voice, something careful in his way of addressing the girl who tilted her head, questioning.

"Ginsei, you were hungry. Go and get something from the market."

He knew he was being dismissed and in any other setting would have left immediately, but the girl was looking at him with such strange, happy eyes that he frowned at her.

"What's your name?"

"She's not allowed to say," Iorogi cut her off and turned his eyes to Ginsei's for the first time since they had stepped into the room. "Now leave."

Ginsei stared back, face blank, and then walked to the door, opening it roughly and closing it with a slam.

When he returned later that day, hunger hardly abated, Iorogi wasn't there and he was stuck in the girl's room, tiring quickly of the joyful and persistent chatter. He kept to himself later on in the room beside her's. There was no sign of him for two more days and Ginsei idled his time away by sharpening his knives, not ready yet to go out and seek fights. When Iorogi finally did return with a relaxed grin that only meant business had been taken care of and all previous stress was relieved, Ginsei forgot he was annoyed that he had not been summoned for the dealing, reminded now of the prospect of leaving.

"Time to go." He stood, stretching.

"We're not leaving yet," Iorogi yawned, rolling his shoulders. Ginsei could tell now that the endeavor had laid heavily on Iorogi's mind although he had spared him only a few details- an important official, a favorite crime ring, a heavy sum for a quick solution. "I promised the girl I'd help her with something."

Ginsei scowled.

"What you go and do that for? You don't make trades, just pin them against the wall and they spit everything out."

Iorogi didn't answer but Ginsei didn't continue, catching in time the tension his shoulders had suddenly acquired. He paused.

"You never told me her name."

"You could have asked her."

"I don't want to talk to her," he muttered. "Something's off about her."

Iorogi's shoulders tightened again ever so slightly.

"Well amuse yourself somehow, I have something to take care of."

"When will we leave?"

"Not sure."

"Iorogi, we have pay to receive."

"You can go ahead then."

He was sounding like himself now, argumentative and gruff and unpolished, not careful with tone or speech. Ginsei wanted to relax, recognizing his trademark voice but the threat of the one living in the room nearby kept his voice level.

"I'll stay."

"Good then," he strode out, easy and confident.

~...~

He really had grown taller and was much stronger but Kobato felt no nervousness once again leading him through their root and vine-strewn path, though he was walking with almost as much familiarity as she.

"Do you remember the way now?" She asked excitedly.

"Yes but it wasn't hard. I've learned to memorize a number of things. Maps and roads are the easiest."

"You must have traveled a lot."

"I have."

She smiled to herself. She hadn't thought he changed much when he had first talked to her, not minding her mistake with his name, refusing the food. But then he sat her down and started to ask for rambling, wayward directions and she noticed the way he held himself, the ease with which he spoke, the strange and intimidating gleam in his eyes. He was no longer prickly or jittery, as if something was haunting him and he couldn't take the additional burden of her small mistakes.

Now he was loud and walked with a swagger, careless and bold, but still quick to temper. Now his anger was not a simple snap, a simple quick reprimand, but a full-throated growl that had her cowering at times, not from fear of injury but realization of her mistake. He reserved the yells for his subordinate who impressed Kobato by merely scowling and looking away.

They had been coming to the tree where he had first met her for a few days now, trying to rid it of a strange blight and clear away a mass of vines that pierced the trunk like shrapnel. They worked from noon until dusk and then walking back, she babbled away like a stream, he listened and grunted like always.

"I wish you could tell me more about what you've done," she said ruefully, glancing back and catching his stern expression.

"I told you I can't say."

"It could be our secret!"

"You're terrible at keeping them."

"You're still so mean," she pouted but both of them knew she didn't mind in the slightest. "If-"

She stopped and sensed Iorogi move behind her.

"What is it?"

But she rushed forward with a small cry and fell to her knees, hands cupping gently under a dove on the ground, its wing broken. It chirped faintly and Kobato moaned, trying her best not to yield to tears.

"Something must have fallen on it," Iorogi noted quietly and she saw a branch lying some distance away, other doves eyeing it with caution. The birds on the tree were concentrated on staring down at the one in Kobato's hands and several around her pecked at her dress, wondering at her stillness.

"Ko- Hey. Let's go," Iorogi placed a hand on her shoulder and she opened her eyes, clearing her thoughts and nodded up at him, though she didn't want to move, her heart like a weight inside.

"Let me take it."

"Oh no, it's fine Ior-"

But he was already reaching over and letting it slip into his large, steady hands and the dove didn't mind, surprising her by giving a throaty cackle of approval. She shivered at the rough skin brushing against her own but then he was upright and beckoning for her to follow him.

It recovered after a few days, the wing fully healed from a splint Kobato fashioned. She let the dove strut around her room, allowing it to visit Iorogi, though Ginsei seemed to mind, when it crowed for him and she liked to think it persuaded him to stay a little longer.

Iorogi continued to accompany her to the tree every day, not minding the hours of work it took to clean the branches and gnarled roots, staying with her to feed the doves, letting her talk and letting himself too.

And somehow the hours turned to weeks and they no longer tended to the tree but went down to the river and fished and they sat in her room and made kites from cloth and shaped wax into candles for festivals. They both ran down corridors and climbed up ledges, he having to make sure she didn't fall and break her arms. He taught her how to cook and let her fix up his clothes and she followed him when he stole from the marketplace so she could finally clean with proper materials, though nothing she did prevented his rapid snatching. He complained frequently and had only a small store of patience but he lingered anyways and she didn't question it because she pretended it was because he enjoyed her company.

They were making their way down their private path one day, Kobato concentrating on the back of Iorogi's head and his growing mane of long, black hair when she found herself leaning forward and tapping him on the shoulder.

"What?"

"Ioryogi-san," she hesitated.

"Hmm."

"I didn't get to tell you before…but," she took a long, loud breath, "I missed you while you were gone."

She heard him cough and winced, fearing he might not know what to say after such a familiar statement.

"It's just that it gets lonely sometimes right? And I don't have people to talk to and even though you don't talk that much, you still listen and you can be very nice…" her voice trailed away but she knew she must continue. "So thank you for coming back, even though it wasn't for me, so thanks more for staying even though it must have been a pain-"

"You talk too much," he turned and snapped but he looked away quickly. "I get it."

"Thank you Ior-" Kobato bit her lip. "Ior-yo-gi-"

"It's fine how you say it," he sighed exasperatedly, and she nodded fervently though he was back to facing the front and walking again.

"It's just that Ginsei-san seems to mind."

"He doesn't get to decide if your pronunciation is wrong, I do." His voice was sharp.

She remembered, dimly, distantly, Ginsei on the other side of the wall asking why he allowed her to say it incorrectly. She hoped she heard him right, him saying he rather liked it being spoken that way.

"Right," she replied, smiling widely and skipping down after him.

~...~

"Iorogi, we should leave."

He had told him this a month before.

"That girl is trouble Iorogi."

But he didn't take heed, he ignored it as easily as he did many of Ginsei's comments. He was content in living plainly. He liked it better, waking up without worrying about blood and daggers and ways to enter a locked room. He liked going to sleep in a room she clearly labeled his own.

"Do you know what she is?" He hissed after a week, pulling him aside, eyes wide.

"A girl," Iorogi responded, shaking him off.

"She doesn't have a human soul! Her mother was an enchantress, and she took on a human form to lure in a mortal lover. That girl had to pay the price and now she has a mission to take care of those cursed birds. No one goes by her without feeling strange emotions and she causes people she talks with to have bad dreams."

"So?"

"You want to stay under her spell?" Ginsei's voice was lowering to a rumble but Iorogi didn't care, never had cared. He didn't want to say that he knew she was strange and left effects he couldn't explain.

He didn't realize how easy it was to live like she did, like he did with her until after he had left and journeyed eastward. There he found how to evade mercenaries by taking up the blade himself and all the tricks in defeating death were weak points in the human body. He didn't remember his dreams for some time and then flashes came to him, great and loud and bright and he never explained them or remembered them in whole until the year before, and suddenly he remembered her, a small girl with a big smile.

People talked of a strange flock of doves, a mage warned him that songs could be poison and a fortune-teller whispered that he should remember his own destiny but he didn't care, never had cared.

"Iorogi, listen to me," Ginsei spat but Iorogi sighed and walked away.

"She isn't cursed."

"And how do you know?"

Because she had told him so herself.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	22. COLLISION: Space

~22~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Ginsei couldn't stop. He couldn't stop hiding from sight every day, crouched on a ledge, tracking a group of tired men heading out from the marketplace down to the streets with high-rise houses, going home to prepare dinner as darkness collected around the town. He'd jump off and true to form, they scurried away, all bonds of allegiance in the name of friendship forgotten. Eventually one would have no place left to turn and in the dark alleyway where no one paid attention to anything but themselves, he'd ask what the townspeople knew. If that person had nothing to offer he'd ask who he should consult next and lips trembling, voice quavering he'd name another person to chase and drag down.

He believed every word, every strange rumor, even the absurd, impossible lies because they were all leads, new paths to the truth. After all, he felt it too, an acute wretched fear, a strange feeling of utter helplessness when he was around that girl who lived in the room beside his. And it was worse because he knew it was not from a deep and permanent trace of evil within her the others whispered about with their foolish superstitions and hard to wash off sensibilities.

The girl with the name that meant little dove, the girl with hair and eyes like amber sunshine, the girl who didn't hesitate to take his hand though he snarled and snatched it back – that girl suffered from nothing but the consequence of a cruel act of love.

None were brave enough to look for the doves she tended to, but they described them as large and fierce birds with sharp talons and bewitching voices. They were none other than the choir of Heaven who flew around the worlds every night, listening to dreams and wishes and then greeting the angels and teaching them how to sing. Their pure voices disguised their own selfish desires and they broke the hearts of the ones they sought, like the queen, like her mother, who cast away her leadership, her responsibility to stay in the arms of a young man who was exiled when the townspeople rightly feared divine retribution.

Many of the older ones confessed to remembering though the story was in fragments- how the sky blazed and the queen walked out to the center of town to face justice. And then all the birds descended and flew around her as thunder and lightning crackled and deafened and blinded all the people so they did not know what happened next. But then they all woke as if from a heavy dream and she was standing there, looking at them grimly and then she told them that they were to protect her daughter with their lives for she was to be the new queen.

When she was born, there was a darkness lifted from over the town and beautiful sunlight and a warm spring with flowers in abundance came. Her mother died that night and the father only entered town to deliver the baby girl to the priests before walking away, never to be heard of again.

Ginsei heard this tale over and over, sometimes wrapped in embellishment, sometimes with a key detail replaced. But no one could tell him anything about the girl herself, for the children had been kept away, the townspeople refused to talk to her except when making trades or sales and he could not interrogate the priests, keeping Iorogi in mind. Sometimes people guessed she was a witch or a gate-keeper or a ghost with powers fearsome though everything about her was like that of a normal girl. They mentioned the strict rules she was brought up under, the power of her name.

She was beautiful and crazy and wild and too much of a child, they sneered, and he knew even they could see their own pettiness, their drive to insult because of the strange forgiveness she granted everyone.

The strange forgiveness she granted everyone but Iorogi because he was the only one who didn't keep away.

Ginsei passed this off as fearlessness at first but Iorogi didn't have any boldness in his eyes when he looked at her. Ginsei tried to pass this off as overwhelming curiosity but Iorogi, as much as he scolded her for it, was too familiar around her. Ginsei didn't understand the motivations, the acts, the words surrounding that girl and he struggled to understand why he couldn't interpret Iorogi's actions. It had never been like this before- they were partners and it seemed like they always had been. Nothing had been as clear to Ginsei as their shared duty and their bond.

When he first met Iorogi, he had a blood-feud to settle and was trying his best to plan and organize without any help. Iorogi overheard him bargaining with a knives-dealer in a crowded street. He bluntly told him he was setting himself up for failure and should return later to kill. Ginsei turned him away, spiteful towards the towering stranger with a steady, growling voice and eyes like unlit coals.

He attempted the revenge murder that night and was nearly caught when Iorogi entered, killed the captors effortlessly and told him to follow. For repayment, Iorogi ordered to a bewildered and secretly impressed Ginsei, he was to accompany him on a dealing after which he could leave or choose to stay in his company.

Ginsei stayed, convincing himself that it was the only way to receive proper tutelage on how to commit such clean and efficient murders. In his own way, Iorogi was kind enough to teach him, never directly but through traps and planned situations until Ginsei was more than ready to try assassin work himself. But he didn't, he stayed and he tried to keep up, keep close, stand beside the tall man who was almost too easy to figure out, too easy to understand.

But not anymore. That Iorogi was lost now and something violent and powerful had faded into what the girl called his old self, so that he was no longer weak but defenseless. Willingly defenseless against her knack for taking his hand, her inability to stop talking, her gloriously bright smile only he could stare at without recoiling, without feeling his own faults.

A man named Ioryogi had taken his companion's place and Ginsei wouldn't stop, couldn't stop trying to find where Iorogi had gone.

Because in the end, it was really him who would be losing.

~…~

The days passing into autumn were much cooler and much shorter now so that time flitted by on a cool breeze, rustling the pages of the calendar up and over. He and she walked here and there day to day, silent at times but more often than not, talking to each other about something new, something strange, something only the two of them cared to think about.

"That's not how you hook the bait," Iorogi groaned but Kobato simply handed him her rod and watched eagerly as he demonstrated for the fifth time what to do.

They liked to take the boat out and let it float on the pond a few minutes away from the town, close to a lane where only countryside spread around for miles and miles. Kobato usually watched the fish swim after her fingertips trailing in the water, humming quietly, while Iorogi busied himself with fishing. They usually spoke little, except when Kobato tried her best to figure out just what Iorogi did on his adventures. Still, the peaceful silences were often punctuated by enthusiastic cheers of encouragement when he reeled in a wriggling silver fish. Today he had given in and was trying to instruct a jittery Kobato on how to catch her own.

"Here and now just throw it back," he watched her carefully as she flung the rod out, her hold weak and he just in time caught her hand and steadied the rod.

"Ah sorry!" Kobato flushed, ashamed.

"You wouldn't be able to cook it even if you did catch it," he grumbled and let go.

"The food's been getting better, you told me so!"

"I don't understand how I survived when I was here before. I never noticed how little you eat."

"Is this better?" She asked suddenly and tossed forth the line. Both of them watched the bait curve in an arc before landing with a splash.

"Now wait," he nodded approvingly.

"How long?" Kobato grinned.

"It takes time."

"Right," Kobato narrowed her eyes and focused all her concentration on the spot where the bait had fallen.

They were silent for only a few minutes when Kobato started to yawn and her grip slackened.

"You got to stay awake," he tried not to chuckle, nudging her.

"What?" She started. "Oh but it's taking them so long!"

"You never noticed this when I fished?"

She turned a peculiar shade of pink and averted her eyes.

"I was distracted."

"Daydreaming," he snorted and they waited a little longer until she turned with a sheepish smile.

"You know…I wouldn't keep the fish. I'd throw it back in."

"I wouldn't let you. That's food."

"I don't eat it."

"I do."

She paused, then started to pull the line back in. He knew this was his cue and he took up the paddle.

He thought she might be upset but instead, she thanked him profusely when they banked and promised to do better next time. He said he didn't think she could but when she kept insisting he was a wonderful teacher, he did his best to hide his pride behind a gruff order to hurry up and move on.

The next day they scavenged in the forest and finding it quite enjoyable, continued for a number of days afterwards. Kobato was very keen in knowing the way around the forest floor, uncovering mushrooms and roots and fruit with a skilled eye and careful hand. Iorogi at first did his best to beat her and find more food, but he realized very soon that he rather liked watching her charging around, pulling his sleeve, bouncing about the wood with a very content look on her face at doing things right.

"Ioryogi-san, do you want to die?" She shrieked one time when he threw a handful of bright pink berries into his mouth. She ran over, slapped his back and he spat them out not from the force but surprise.

"Ioryogi-san, you can't!" She wailed another time, grabbing onto his tunic when his hand brushed by a nest filled with eggs on his way up a tree. He explained later he wasn't aiming for the nest and she easily believed him, which only left him feeling a strange, worse kind of guilt despite having meant it.

"Ioryogi-san," she beckoned to him excitedly one day, and he walked over to see a few feet away a fox nestled under a fallen, hollowed tree with her kits. "Aren't they perfect?"

There were days when he wished he wasn't with her because her voice and her face changed into something like what he experienced the first time he met her. When she asked if he liked her doves, she didn't expect a real answer, didn't want the truth and all of her hopelessness clung to him. He didn't want to look down at her at this moment because she was speaking so lovingly, so gently and he didn't know what to do with himself and his pounding heart and so he stayed silent, hoping the emotion would simply leave.

But the feeling wasn't just in the forest where they were isolated and surrounded only by green and wind. It was pleased to find grounds to sprout in when he was away from her, like when he was with Ginsei and he discovered he hated hearing her mentioned with such blatant distaste. Or when he was in the market and he noticed none of the girls who pretended they didn't like him but whispered excitedly when he passed by had the innocent softness in their cheeks when they smiled like she did. Or when he was in bed and he could hear her getting ready in the morning, her pure, unfettered delight soaking through the walls, enchanting him until she left and he became restless and irritated.

"No, that's another planet, not a twin moon," he sighed as they lay on the roof one night, growing sleepier by the moment but continuing their game of trying to stay awake the longest. He'd always win and he'd catch himself staring at her sleeping there on the marble, mouth open, hands glowing over her spread hair, her face small and round and prettier than the moon hanging over them.

But tonight she was not just tired but worried and in between yawns he'd catch her frown, thinking hard to herself. He had never, even when he was one, cared to think of himself as a child, having been yoked with duty early on. He was serious and mature to an extreme degree, everyone said so, but when she started fretting he'd find himself clumsily trying to catch onto her carefree happiness and display it, even put it on for size in a laughable display.

"What is it now?"

"Hm? Oh ah, nothing!"

"You can't hide anything to save your life you know."

She laughed and some of the tension knotted in his chest weakened.

"You know…" she took a deep breath, "tomorrow's my birthday."

"Oh." He didn't know what else to say because everything about her birth, all the ugly and twisted faces Ginsei made when he narrated new exposition came into focus and the tension doubled up.

"I sing to the doves that day, a song no one else has heard. But," and she was now wringing her hands, brows knitted, face anxious and he did his best to stop his hand from reaching over and resting on her shoulder. "I'm allowed to sing it to whoever I want."

He didn't know what to say. The feeling that surfaced frequently these days was rising again, rushing up in his blood, quickening his breath, keeping his eyes on her young face.

"And I was wondering…"

And then sometimes he wished he could always be with her and his aversion at being so attached for a reason he couldn't comprehend battled with the strange emotion stirring within his chest. In moments like these he tried best to listen but inside he was fighting so many urges, some to talk to her, some to walk away, all of them revolving around one girl. And he did his best not to say her name because for some reason, he knew this would break everything trapped inside and the flood might overwhelm them both.

"Ioryogi-san…do you want to hear it?" She turned and in that moment, all the fading moonlight and starlight and budding sunlight fell back and he realized her eyes were really very, very bright.

~…~

Her heart was starting to hurt.

She spent most of her time around him now fidgeting with the pockets on her dresses or picking imaginary fluff caught on the straw mesh of her hats. She didn't like to look at him for long, turning away instead, flustered and almost aggravated with herself, sometimes even a little short with him but those spells were rare and she ended up laughing at his bemused stare.

She didn't like to think she wouldn't be able to stay around him. But her heart ached so painfully when she was.

"You look like a wolf now," she observed one day.

"You're not touching my hair," he stiffened.

"I mean your eyes," she giggled but she regretted saying anything when he looked at her with a half-smile that made her hands clench.

There was a string of days when it seemed like he would finally leave and desperate, confused by her heart, she went into his room to take something, anything to stall him. He caught her and she was so embarrassed that she ran out, repeating over and over that she was stupid. She calmed herself and returned, greeting him at dinnertime as if nothing had happened. He pretended along with her and she was so happy that he forgave her, that he understood she hadn't meant any harm that she dashed off to the marketplace to treat him with a proper meal, even though he yelled that it was fine, the fish didn't look that bad.

And then there was the tendency to lose herself in situations, spontaneous and vivid, where she imagined him staying and not minding living in the room by her and they spent the rest of their lives like this. Those alone were fine but they started to grow and she imagined him taking her away, out of a home she didn't want to admit she didn't like, to places far and foreign. And she'd never worry about not knowing where they were or where they were going because he'd be with her, and then she'd blush and wake, her heart being squeezed much too tightly.

And now, here they were, right in her latest dream.

"I hope you like it." She was so restless, her heart bursting with something she had never felt before, something none of the priests had bothered to tell her. She feared it was a sickness, a disease no one else knew about, because who could bear such excruciating, such beautiful pain?

He merely nodded and waited, sitting between two gnarled roots, twilight shining over his dark hair and even darker eyes. The doves were perched all over the tall thick oak, silent.

Nothing dared to move, not even the wind that had bothered them on their way up here.

She inhaled. Maybe it was a mistake to ask him to attend, maybe it meant something else, her premonition that he wanted to hear her sing.

But he was gazing at her encouragingly, hopefully, and her heart couldn't contain all of glorious pain and so she began slowly and softly.

Flowers bloom in spring  
Oh, the sky spreads in summer  
They're engraved and sparkling  
In my heart

_"I'd like to have heard you sing. For that festival. When I was here before."_

Rain falls in the morning  
Even on a day when I shut the window  
The light overflowing to my chest  
Is from above the clouds

_"You don't need to work so hard. The mornings are for you to sleep."_

Joy and sorrow  
I hold everything close while I'm walking  
They're things that firmly join  
My hand  
And your hand together

_"Ignore him. I believed you the first time remember? You're not cursed."_

Autumn is at the waterside  
Winter lurks at the treetop  
There's a boundless kindness  
Deep in the world

_"I'm not leaving yet. I'm staying for a little longer here."_

Every time when night comes  
Let's offer a prayer  
Let's quietly greet  
The day to come tomorrow

_"I thought we'd go up to the roof again. What's wrong?"_

Oh, a voice calling out from far, far away  
Guides me  
As if it smiles  
As if it sings  
The sound of wind echoes

_"Where were you all day? I was looking for you."_

Joy and sorrow  
I hold everything close while I'm walking  
They're things that firmly join  
My hand  
And your hand together

_"Hey you!"_

When she opened her eyes, she wasn't surprised she couldn't see anything. The world was underwater, white blurred with green and gold and pink. Her hands and feet felt numb. Her heart still hurt.

Why was it hurting?

"Hey."

It was supposed to stop.

"Kobato."

She gasped and looked up, tears spilling over.

"I-Ioryogi-s-san…I'm-I'm so sorry, I-I can't-"

But he didn't mind, and she knew he never did, and she wished he'd come closer.

And so he did. He walked towards her with the birds scattering up and away into the sky behind him. His face was hard to read, not just because of the tears but it was coming closer and closer until he was holding her, arms around her shaking frame, lips by her ear.

"Thank you, Kobato."

This was more than enough right? It should stop now right?

And yes it did, all the pain bubbled into a powerful bliss that compelled her to wrap her own arms around his back because something was perfect now, here with her heart against his chest.

She heard it, the strange notes in his voice, a huskiness she had never heard from him before. But it too spoke to her, told her something that made her heart swell.

"…Iorogi-san, I love you."

~…~

"You are a fool Iorogi and you shall be punished."

He stared back defiantly, fists at his side, eyes narrowed.

"What you have done is a terrible crime, for revolution against a peaceful ruler is punishable by death."

He did not blink.

"But I will put upon you a curse worse than death."

No one spoke but the man with the staff, with the blind eyes, with the old face and young voice.

"Are you prepared to take this curse upon yourself?"

"Why must you leave?" His mother cried.

"What are you running away from?" Ginsei laughed.

"Ioryogi-san…can you stay?"

He did not move and the old man held up his staff.

"Iorogi, the one you fall in love with shall be destined to die by your own hands!"

The dream then ended.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	23. COLLISION: Rocket

~23~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

Ginsei left the next morning. Iorogi didn't try to stop him but Kobato did, running after him as far as the gate to the commons, and so he had no choice but to follow to make sure nothing was said or done in parting with the intent to hurt her. But Ginsei ignored them both and strode on towards the plaza. Iorogi wondered where he would go from there and watched him, curious but making no attempt to stop him.

Iorogi hadn't spoken to him after he returned the night before, grunting goodbye to Kobato before shutting his door. He could only seem to scratch his throat and rub his eyes and swallow down curses. The song and her voice and the whisper worming from his ear into his every thought echoed all around him. His heart was oddly restless and so very loud and his hands, running through his hair and clenching into fists and moving from side to side, seemed to want to hold something, anything, and he seized his dagger.

In the shadow of dusk melting into black night, Iorogi turned and suddenly caught Ginsei's eyes widening. He tensed, instinctively preparing for an assault. But Ginsei simply stared at him, opening his mouth and then gritting his teeth, eyes filled with an unexplainable pain. Iorogi lowered his arms and looked away, hoping he had just imagined the look, a look that meant Ginsei knew it too, that something about his face or his walk or all of him had been permanently, irrevocably changed.

Then Iorogi woke early the next morning to see the bed on the other side of the room empty and Ginsei standing by the doorway, staring at him with loathing and contempt and disgust but nodding farewell with a strangely respectful smirk.

Kobato saw him leave through her doorway and dropped the bundle of sweets in her arms to chase him, high voice floating after him with wings of its own.

But he did not stop and Iorogi watched him until he grew tired and called for Kobato to leave him be. He waited until she turned, troubled but not questioning, and then he led her back, not bothering to spare the fading figure in the town square a final glance.

~…~

In the beginning, her heart didn't seem to hurt as much as before but she still lost her breath when he unexpectedly took her hand to pull her away from a rough, ivy-covered patch on the forest floor. Sometimes she walked into his room and he'd bark hastily at her to leave but before she could move, he'd cover her eyes and her lungs would shrivel as all the precious air in her left in one surprised gasp.

She found it embarrassing to say his name, and even tried reverting back to her silly mispronunciation but nothing helped and all barriers against familiarity dissolved whenever he turned and she realized she knew him, she really knew him. She really loved him.

She didn't know why she had said it, how she had confessed that something so powerful was in her, something the townspeople whispered was the greatest curse to ever befall them. It was like a tide that swept in and smote her, tearing away from control, tossing her about, leaving no gentle lapping wave for her to sink into. This love was dangerous and it made her tremble when he walked by her, when he met her eyes, when he smiled. There was a day when he didn't flinch as she fell into him, carelessly tripping over her worn floor rug and she suddenly understood she had drowned forever with those simple words, chained herself to him, unable to retrieve memories of anything like the past or life without him.

In the beginning, she was still very afraid because she thought she was left alone with it.

~…~

"I need to talk with the child," the man said sternly.

"You mean Kobato."

The man flinched, thick golden brows crossing over the beady eyes set deep into his large face.

"You dare speak her name?"

"Why are you here?"

"You will let me see her," the man bristled and growled.

"Why?"

The eyes, like marbles rolled in ink, sank deeper into thick and red flesh.

"She has neglected her duties for the past three days. We have reminded her once before of punishment. We must not let her think we have changed. She cannot shirk what she is bound to do."

"Ior-Ior," Kobato stuttered, having finally found her voice, her hand on his back trembling.

"What did you do to her?"

"What?" The eyes were nearly gone now, but the glint lingered, trapped in the creases of skin and fat.

"What did you do to punish her?"

"Iorogi-san, please," Kobato pleaded but the man laughed. He was clothed in violet robes hemmed with gold string, his long sleeves trailing on the dusty marble floor, a sneer on his face pushing his eyes further back into his balding and spotted head. Iorogi had known who he was with one look, Kobato having described the high priest of the order in great detail before. A strange uneasiness tinged her voice when she started recounting her first meeting with him, voice straining as it did when she suppressed a secret she desperately wanted to share but reluctance trapped the words within her.

"Kobato knows it," the man chuckled, a lopsided and leering smile appearing beneath his sagging cheeks. "Oh yes I can say her name as well…I am the only one granted the power to say her name."

Iorogi said nothing and stared back, eyes narrowed.

"And with that power comes the responsibility of looking after her. Making sure she remembers what to do, what to say, what to sing…" His smile hardened and he stepped forward, sweat glistening in the folds around his neck, a pungent perfume leaking from under his vest.

"She belongs to this temple. So you will give her over."

"No."

"Iorogi-san you must let me go!" She pushed against him but Iorogi stood fast, barring the doorway, glaring down at the priest sneering at the glimpses of Kobato he could catch.

"You have never cared for her and you never will."

Kobato paused and the man's breathing grew heavier as he looked up, face flushing scarlet.

"Obey me now stranger! Kobato will suffer an even greater punishment than before-"

"Her name holds no special power. She is not bound to all these useless services. How many times have you punished her?"

The man said nothing at first and Kobato was suddenly frozen as she leaned against him, her whole body hot against his bare back.

"Several times. Do not think you can stop me-"

"What have you done to her?"

"I have not hurt her," the man laughed again but his eyes were cold. "I have merely shown her the truth of her life. I have exposed her to all the people and they have told her what she is and what she has done. I have made her face the bitterness. She is reminded she cannot grant wishes and she is useless and there are none who love her." His voice was rising now and he was spitting out words with a venomous glee. "And now she knows better. Or else I will have to force her to break again-"

"Iorogi-san!" Kobato screamed but he ignored her, wrenching the priest forward and slamming him against the wall. The priest was no longer stiff but now quaking, arms thrashing as his eyes bulged and his lips quivered, spittle flying, voice cracking. Ioryogi dug his fingers into his neck, lip curling.

Ginsei had told him what she did day after day one night when he wondered aloud what was keeping her. It was probably the random chore of sweeping up the corridors, lighting thousands of candles in study rooms, cleaning and washing and drying dishes, sheets, clothes, he yawned. Iorogi had stared. She was a maid, Ginsei shrugged but Iorogi shook his head slowly, disbelieving.

But that was the truth and now he knew for sure. His fingers closed in inch by inch, one for her room, purposely wrecked, one for her food, only leftover scraps to spare merchants from talking to her for too long, one for her tired smile, for she could never admit she was their slave.

"You bastard," he whispered, keeping his hands on the throat and trying to keep them from reaching for his dagger, "you will never come here again. You will never punish her or try to threaten her or make her work for you. You will never order her to do anything for you again. You-"

"Iorogi-san," Kobato's sob finally reached him and his fixed gaze broke as he glanced over. He released the man at once, turning fully towards her. Her knees were bent and her hands were clasped under her chin, her face was streaked with tears and she reached out to him, large eyes dark but still shining with a strange light.

"Please don't Iorogi-san. I forgave him, I've forgiven all of them," she took his hand and he was surprised to realize he was shaking. "I have always known what duty I really must do but I didn't mind helping them. The festivals are beautiful and the prayer service has wonderful music and I don't mind tending to anything they ask, I don't mind, please forgive them…"

"Ko-" he started but her hands had left his and now took his face, soft skin against rough and prickly.

"Forgive him, Iorogi-san."

Her voice was calm now, almost as sweet as it had been before they were interrupted, when she was mending his shirt and scolding him for being careless. The light from the noon sun had draped over her and created a glow he wished he could move into, a glow like starlight splashing about in gold water. He wasn't listening, just watching her hands but slowly his eyes drifted up to her face and his heart again twisted in that tight coil that made it impossible to move or breathe.

He didn't. He couldn't in any way, but it didn't matter because he didn't and that's why it hurt. He didn't want to tell her, that he didn't and he never could.

"My lord," she was now saying, voice suddenly strong, hands slipping away from Iorogi's face, "I will come to the night service if you allow me."

The priest was still wheezing, slouched against the wall, chest heaving. He looked up, terrified, then closed his eyes.

"There is…no need. You are released….from service."

"I am?"

And then the glow was around her again, sinking into the strange light of her smile as she turned to meet his eyes with something like sharp and raw relief.

"Thank you," and he was trapped into matching her even gaze until she stepped forward and thanked the priest over and over, no trace of anger or regret or sadness in her voice.

His heart twisted.

But he didn't. That's why it hurt.

He didn't really love her.

He couldn't.

~…~

"Where are you going?"

"I have to leave." Iorogi didn't want to look at her but her laugh always seemed to make him pivot, as if she was north on a compass he couldn't tear out of his center.

"You haven't taken all your things!"

"I'll come back."

"Take me with you then." She said softly, voice almost as beautiful as her gaze, her lips curved, her face no longer like one of a child but now of a girl too beautiful for mortal sight.

"I have to go away from you."

"Why?" She sounded like she always did- a morning bird, chirping with notes too sweet. It was as if she expected this, almost like she had rehearsed for him to try and play out this scene, play out the lines as sincerely as he could.

"I have to return to…" He looked down at his boots. "I have work to do, Kobato."

"I know."

"Work I came here to do in the first place. I didn't want to stay for this long."

"Yes."

"You don't understand!" He snapped. "You don't know what I do-"

"Ginsei-san told me."

His head jerked up, eyes wide.

"Then you know what I am. You know what I've done, what I have to keep doing."

"Yes," she nodded, brows creasing ever so slightly.

"Kobato- I will leave now."

"I didn't care."

He stopped, half-way out the door.

"I know Iorogi-san has suffered in the past even though I'm not sure why. I know you're running away from something and sometimes people do bad things to survive. But you don't like it, you are running away from it, and you can leave it behind."

He turned and saw that she was stating it as much as hoping for him to confirm it. Her eyes were rounder than usual and her shoulders were hunched, her voice hopeful, almost praying for approval.

He didn't know how she knew he would admit it, how she had expected that with her he found something like respite, like recovery.

"I'm a demon, Kobato."

"No you aren't," she stared at him lovingly. "Please…don't you want to stay?"

He took a deep breath.

"Yes."

She extended her hand, beaming.

"Then stay."

~…~

Then as time pushed her from a walk to a run, she found that she liked the way his hair fell over his eyes and how the scar above his right eye shone and how his voice was husky when he was tired in the morning. She liked how he didn't mind her reaching for his hand, fingers slipping into the spaces between his, even though he'd duck his head.

They liked to walk now deeper in the woods, and spend a few extra minutes resting on their boat in the middle of the pond. He didn't mind watching her make dinner, he didn't mind pulling her up every night to the roof where she was beginning to find sleep much less interesting than watching his eyes flutter to a close.

She didn't dream anymore because the fall shortening into winter was darker and quieter and he didn't think this life was anything to escape from. She found her breath and her grip again, and also an urge to stay close to him, a man that smelled like wood branches snapping and moved like air under a dove's wing and felt like the cold then hot sparks off a fire.

As time pushed on, she was no longer afraid because she didn't mind being alone with it.

~…~

"I don't."

"What?" She turned, lips parted, strands of hair falling from her hands over her shoulders.

"Nothing," he sighed, looking away, lips tightly pressed.

She kept her eyes on him, letting her hair tumble down after a minute. He turned with a glare.

"What?"

She blushed.

"Can I?"

He blinked and she hesitated before reaching forward, fingers brushing under his eyelids.

He didn't move.

"Make a wish," she smiled and he saw an eyelash on her fingertip.

He took her hand but her smile did not break and he bowed his head, biting his lip.

"I don't believe in that."

~…~

In the end, his hand reached out and took hers.

In the end, he had meant it, she laughed, shivering with happiness – he wasn't going to leave her alone.

~…~

Her hand was tugging on his, her heart was tugging on his. Everything in him spun happily, the air sinking into his lungs, the beat going in and out of his heart, the ache pounding between his ears.

"Look! It's mine!" She crowed, gesturing to a small plot, weeds sprawled over small buds of bright green.

"You need to take better care of it." He wished he could tell her to let go of him but an unforgivable thought was glad she didn't.

"I will. And then you can eat more than just bread and fish," she giggled.

He looked at her with a wry smile but suddenly frowned.

"Hey, Kobato-"

"Just because it isn't bad doesn't mean you should keep saying my name," she mumbled, face pink, but he shook his head, distracted. A faint whisper was slipping in and out of his conscious.

"Your eyes-"

"What?"

"They're-"

"Oh look!" She squealed. "One of them is growing!" She broke her grip on his wrist and darted forwards.

There was something off, something tilting sideways and as he followed her, somehow he knew she would fall. He reached out, arms pulling her in so they both tumbled onto their knees.

"Ah sorry-" her voice broke, laughter stopping. The sound of silence made him start.

"You have to be more care- Ko- hey, Kobato? Kobato!"

Her eyes were open but when he turned her around they closed and her arms grew limp.

He lay her down and shook her over and over but she didn't wake, face drawn and pale.

"Kobato!"

Everything slowly spun to a long pause.

~…~

For a few days she simply stayed in her room, singing loudly as he painted the walls, ripped mold off the ceiling, uprooted loose tiles. She'd do her best to cook something simple and when he came back one day with wood over his shoulder and slabs of marble in another arm, he was shocked to see a meal that looked quite decent waiting at the table.

But those few days passed and suddenly she no longer could get out of bed. He'd sit beside her, staring out the window, not wanting to say anything as she faded in and out of sleep.

She didn't eat anymore and when she refused to touch the fish he caught one night, he charged to the kitchen and began throwing open the cabinet doors. As he pulled out all the stores of food, he realized she had stopped buying the nuts and sweetbread she always ate to save space for all the food she knew he liked.

She rarely laughed anymore, saying it hurt her stomach and so he tried smiling as often as possible. But then she cried one day because she wanted to see the birds and so he tried to coax them into following him. They stayed away, cautious and anxious and flitting about as if they sensed their weakening queen and he suddenly knew that he didn't want to go back. He just couldn't return and pretend as if they had all left, pretending it was nothing, trying to act as if there was still some happiness left.

"Iorogi-san, I want to sing."

He didn't know what to feel, what to do, what to say anymore.

"Sing whatever you wish."

"Yes," she smiled faintly, too weak to bear her usual wide grin.

But she was silent for a few minutes and he watched her helplessly, knowing before she told him.

"I can-can't remember…" she laughed, voice breaking and she collapsed into him, her small frame shaking, dissolving against his useless, meaningless strength.

He had nowhere left to go and every night she'd rest against him, breath tickling his jaw, hand curled over his. He could leave her and she'd still waste away. He could die and she would still follow him. He had surrendered in the end and he had lost once again and nothing he could look or ask for would pardon him.

"I'm the cursed one," he whispered over and over but she ignored him, growing smaller and slighter and fading into him, pressing into him so she could share his pulse as her own waned.

"Forgive me," but she ignored him because she was almost too happy seeing him every time she woke, eyes deepening from grey into a semblance of burnt gold as she whispered his name.

They were all alone. No one came to visit them, no one came even when he tried to drag them there.

She had now started sleeping for days on end.

~…~

"Iorogi-san. Something's coming."

It was dark and he could barely see her but she was nudging him, face turned to the moonless sky outside her window.

"Take me outside."

"Kobato, are you alright? You've been asleep for so long-"

"Take me out there."

"No, I can't-"

"Please." She was anxious and her fingers clutched at his tunic with a new urgency. He noticed she was unusually strong when she prodded him again and that was more than enough encouragement. He hastily threw the coverlet off her and gathered her up, shaken at how weightless she felt.

He strode as quickly as he could past the temple grounds, footsteps echoing in the marble corridors, the air thin and cold as he walked outside. Kobato was still very warm, hair damp and clinging to her neck. She gazed up at the inky sky.

"Iorogi-san, do you hear that?" Her voice was struggling not to trail away.

But he was staring a little further off, where a cloud he knew to be the flock of doves was gathering. The sky above where the hundreds of birds were fluttering was compressing into a single layer of dark that suddenly started to spin and run forward, skimming over the trees towards the town plaza.

"Kobato look," he whispered but she was asleep again and so he set her down, carefully, against a pillar near the temple gate. He walked forwards, pausing at the entryway, entranced by the swirling dark mist that was brightening into a silver haze.

He looked back to the doves and noticed they were drawing close as well, almost as if trying to outrace the brightening space layer. He gazed down at the town square and made out the blurs of people gathering around, their whispers tangling with the uneasy wind.

He turned back and saw that Kobato was stirring, hands twitching. The wind suddenly halted and transformed into a fog, thick and hot. His hands clenched.

"Hey Kobato, do you know-"

A deep crack and then an explosion and something rent the sky into a long stripe of pure white. The pieces of dark scattered like ash and a blinding light shot down and illuminated the entire town, bleaching it with a blast that rooted Iorogi where he stood and forced its way into his lungs.

He tried to breathe and started to choke, the light and smell and sound shrieking inside him.

"Iorogi-san!"

He couldn't answer her, couldn't turn to see her and he opened his mouth, silently yelling.

Then there was a powerful shove and he toppled forwards, crashing into the ground, his body writhing in agony, his eyes rolling back into his head and then suddenly all of the motion and pain left. He lay there, gasping, choking out Kobato's name.

He could hear the birds crying out as if they were dying and opened his eyes to see that they diving into the light before him, dissolving into silver dust that swirled around a white figure in the center of the ray of light, hair waving, eyes wide open and staring up into the sky.

Kobato.

There was another flare and suddenly black rushed in to meet white, colliding and sparking and all of the sensation made the earth tremble and renewed the chorus of screams from the crowd in the square.

Iorogi forced himself to keep his eyes open, watching as Kobato rose, suspended, still with her eyes open, her lips moving rapidly and he realized she was singing. The voice, unfettered, became one shrill note and it started to shatter the column.

Then there came a great heave and the sky swallowed up the ground and a wave wrenched everything sudden and horrible and real so he could stagger upright and start to run forward.

"Kobato!" His fingers brushed the beam of light encircling her and then the world expelled all the force of light and power and Heaven and dark back to where it came from.

The doves were all gone, Kobato was gone and Iorogi was fading now too, as the ground beneath him fell and everything breathed at last to an end.

~…~

"I will wage a war for you."

"You must not," she whispered.

"I will win. And then there shall be no power that will keep me away from you."

"Don't pay the price," she begged him. "Don't pay the price."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**


	24. COLLISION: Owl Song

~24~

* * *

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Thou art a fool Iorogi and thou shall be punished."

He stared back defiantly, fists at his side, eyes narrowed.

"What thou have wrought is terrible and for this crime, for revolution against my rule, I shall give punishment."

He did not blink.

"Are thou prepared to take this curse upon thine self?"

"Father wait!"

Iorogi turned and unconsciously got to his feet, eyes wide and fixed on the girl to his right. She was bathed in golden shine and her milky white face was streaked with tears.

"Father please, before you punish him, save the twin of my self!"

"Hey," he started, voice cracking and throat dry, but Genko growled and glared at him from the side. He closed his mouth, restless with excitement. It felt as if he hadn't seen her for years, as if the war was just one long battle that nestled deep into every pocket of his mind, her face blurring as the intent to win grew and grew. He didn't seem to notice how she wrung her hands, how her eyes darted from the cloudy floor to the beautiful and overwhelming brightness of God, seated in the center, breath rumbling like a thundercloud, the sound of chimes echoing as He spoke.

"The child my angels found is beyond saving, daughter. Unless thou wishes to use thyself, I cannot retrieve her life. I shall not do this thing."

"Father please," she sobbed, reaching out to the storming fog of silver and gold, "she is innocent! She does not deserve to perish!"

Iorogi blinked. He could see it now, past the startling sweetness of her face alone. The angel was beyond distraught, her eyes desperate and hollow, not filled with the softness she offered him when he looked at her face under her hood. His instinct to draw his sword was beginning to take hold.

"Daughter, thou may do as thou will wish. I will not stop thee. Go and save that child."

"What child?" Iorogi demanded, hands quivering ever so slightly. "Where are you going?"

But the angel was departing now, still crying but with a firm, almost severe determination set in her eyes as she slipped past him.

"Kobato!"

"Iorogi, if thine heart wishes so, thou may follow her."

The chimes were clearer now, almost as if a weight had fallen off His voice. He tensed, sensing something had sorted into place, something was meant by his dismissal. He took a step back, took another, and then charged off after the glimmer of amber in the distance.

~…~

He woke to hear bells. They rang once and the echo lingered, swimming past him on steady, strong waves. He didn't move and they rang once more. He realized they were a voice, old and young and sharp and shallow, leaving a deep and resounding pang of happiness and pain in his chest.

There was no wind and yet everything was cool and what he lay upon was downy and smooth. He opened his eyes. An overwhelming wash of white flowed over him, fresh like the mist off a mountain, crisp and rough, yet ancient and gentle as well.

He stirred and the sound of bells faded in again.

"What is thy name?"

A voice bubbled in his throat and he opened his lips to speak but the voice that slipped out was not one carrying mortal speech. It was faint and weak against the clear ring of the bells, bells fashioned from the sea and from the stars and mightier than thunder and lightning.

"Iorogi."

"Thou knowest where thou art?"

He lay very still, not needing to move, not needing to breath, noticing that there was no heart in him anymore but a hollow cavern filled with soft wind.

"Am I in Heaven?"

"Thy soul is present before the King of Heaven."

He closed his eyes and the calm within him started to churn.

"God…I have a question."

"Speak son."

"Can you please tell me if a girl is here as well?"

"A daughter living or dead?"

"I don't know…dead." There was now a dull ache mixing with the pangs and the wind was doing its best to soothe it, melting into it, cool against a growing and restless warmth. "Her name is Kobato. I-I need to know…"

"Son, thou knowest why I have granted thee my presence?"

"No." It was difficult to stay on his back now. Something slippery was wrapping around his ribs, the wind fluttering against a restless and heated wave of hurt. His chest was swelling and nothing was gentle and light anymore but heavy now, pressing down deep on his eyes and tongue.

"Thine soul is filled with unrest and I shall grant thine wish."

"My wish?" His throat burned.

"Speak son, and ask for thy inner desire. Thou shall not be denied for thy soul is chained to that daughter thou speaks of. Thou must set her free."

"Please God…Father," he coughed and the wind whistled away, leaving his insides writhing into a tangle of hot and sticking vines crawling up into his mouth. "Please save her. Use me and spare her life. Please."

"I may take thine soul to use at my command?"

"Yes. Save her."

Everything smelled and tasted of fire.

"I may use it so that daughter is granted a chance at life once more?"

"Yes."

All of it was now liquefying into ash.

"And thou knowest thy soul shall never live again once I have taken it? Thou may never return to Earth in mortal form if I do so."

The pain was unbearable and the bells were a hard and angry buzzing in his ears, the slow moving light tracing her amber eyes all around him.

"Yes. I give up all life so that she might live again."

"Son, thy wish is now truth. Thou shall be my messenger and when my daughter greets thee, she will heal thee."

"I will see Kobato?"

All his senses inverted into a dark and slow fog.

"Thine curse is forgiven now. Thou will be her mission and thy heart shall be her goal. Go forth and keep strong thine love, son."

~…~

Genko didn't recognize him at first. He had the same black mane as Iorogi running over his back, the same deep eyes, always narrowed, the same hard jaw that transformed his face into one like a wolf when he was angry.

But it wasn't him, for his gait was slow and unsure, his shoulders were limp, his eyes were empty and red-rimmed. It couldn't be the same Iorogi who had drawn his sword with a furious cry for bloodlust.

"What happened to him?" Ginsei crossed his arms, trying his best to hide his worry with a drawling voice.

Genko watched the Iorogi-stranger fall to his knees, speak in a tone humble and pleading, lower his eyes not simply from deference but from…guilt?

God was speaking now but Genko remained focused on Iorogi, or the man who looked like him, noting how the jaw, usually clenched and tight and tense, was slack, as if he had very little strength left.

"Iorogi, thine company will be bound to this then."

Genko turned, feeling Ginsei stiffen beside him.

"Yes my Lord."

"Thou shall lead a child bearing the soul of my daughter-angel. She must heal hearts to restore the lives destroyed to save her own."

Genko started to panic. What child was this, what lives were linked with mortal hearts, who was this demon who knelt before the King with a passive, stoic expression?

"Yes my lord."

"But this shall not be thine punishment Iorogi. I shall seal thine memory of love. The child may sing and thou may listen, but thou shall never remember to love this daughter of mine."

"I love only one, my lord."

There was a pause, almost a gap of sound, and Genko shivered.

"Thou knowest nothing Iorogi. Thou shall learn from my lesson. For thy war was waged from selfish desire."

Iorogi looked up, face blank.

"Thou shall learn what love truly is. Know this- when you would rather yield to the world to keep her safe than fight for thyself, thou shall be forgiven."

~…~

"Do you want some company?"

He shook his head and she faltered.

"Are you hungry?"

He mumbled in reply and she lowered her hands, sighing quietly.

"Well, when you want to come inside you can. It's raining hard and I don't want you to catch a cold."

She waited for another minute and then turned, fingering her pink apron absent-mindedly. She paused at the door, looking back, hoping he might have moved. But he was still there on the bench staring out at the rain, rich red-gold hair dull in the light, face hidden by the shadow.

"Kiyokazu-kun."

He started and turned.

"I'll keep the door open when you want to come inside." She smiled encouragingly and was beginning to step in when he opened his mouth.

"Yes?"

He flinched and flushed, shaking his head. She bit her lip and made her way to the bench.

"Ah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just…I saw you wanted to say something."

"I was…it's just-"

She smiled helpfully, noting how old his eyes looked, how heavy the weight upon his brow seemed.

"I like when it stops raining," he whispered. "I like seeing the light come in again."

"It reminds you of happier times," she nodded. "It shows you everything will be ok again."

He gazed at her, lost and helpless and confused, like a child but not because his face was grave, regretful, etched with thoughts named after loss.

"You know…everything will be ok again Kiyokazu-kun." She put her hand on his shoulder. "Even when we think there won't be a happy ending, it'll come."

She knew it wasn't much, it was hardly worth mentioning at all but she felt compelled to offer something. And some of the sadness did seem to wash off as he turned to continue watching the rain, eyes a little brighter. She knew nothing about him, knew his past would always remain in some way a secret to her, but she realized this was fine. Someone would heal him if she couldn't. She could wait.

She sat with him and both of them watched as the rainfall started to ebb.

He didn't mind when she took his hand as she led him back into the nursery.

~…~

He didn't know the plan, he knew nothing in truth. He sat in a square of blue light, the moon barely visible amongst the full blown clouds, the stars dim and weak. He looked over at the girl lying still beside him, hair shining, face turned, heels resting on the edge of her tatami mat. The room felt stuffy and the walls leaned in and he swallowed down something lumpy and hard.

He knew he had no faith in her and he had no hope in this endeavor. But the angel had asked him to find some.

The girl stirred.

He knew she was not the angel who gave away her soul as if it was reprieve, she was not the child Heaven had rescued, broken into many pieces- she was merely a shell with memories trapped somewhere in a far off home. Her own soul had been cast aside and the new soul gifted to her was withering away. But the angel had asked him to look deeper, really look and find her.

Ioryogi clenched his jaws, trying to quell the frustration bubbling inside. He didn't understand any of this, he couldn't trust her. How could he teach her, how could he look after her? Who was she?

"I am her now, I was her before, I will always be her. Watch over her," she whispered, hands soft and small in his. Her mouth twitched and her eyes glowed as she pulled away, him not understanding what she meant. Were they the same?

"What does it all mean?" Ioryogi mumbled, rubbing his eyes with a plush paw. The girl shifted and turned, opening her eyes to meet his tired ones, wide and bright and a color that made his heart tighten.

"Ioryogi-san?"

He looked right back at her, eyes narrowed. Were they really the same after all? Would she recognize him from a voice nudging within her core? Would he find a sign, a marker meaning it would end soon and he would win her back?

"Yes, what is it Kobato?"

"I have a question."

"Hm."

Was their beginning meant to start like this?

"Ioryogi-san, why do we blink?"

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

**THE END**


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